Misspelled
by Emmsiicool
Summary: When a spell goes horribly wrong the nations has to work together to solve the problem.
1. Chapter 1: Sickness

**Chapter 1**

Sickness

"How are you feeling?"

Mathias put his hand on Emils forehead and sighed. The fever hadn't gotten any lower and the younger nation was clearly in pain.

"I'm fine" His is voice was only a weak whisper. Emil had gotten very ill after one of his volcanos had a huge eruption but even now after everything had calmed down, he still hadn't become any better. Lukas had taken him home to his place for recovery and Mathias had temporarily moved in, too worried to just stay at home. But that was three weeks ago and Emil still hadn't gotten any better.

"Sure you are"

Emil had already fallen asleep so Mathias slowly left the room, leaving a last worried glance on the sleeping nation before heading downstairs.

As he walked down the stairs he could hear someone talking inside Lukas room. It was weird because it was only himself, Emil and Lukas in the house and it was unlikely Lukas was just talking to himself. Mathias put an ear close to the door and listened but he could only hear one person talking.  
"Lukas?" he said and knocked on the door. There was no break in the mumbling and he didn't receive any answer either. "Lukas, I'm coming in" Mathias pushed down the handle and pulled at the door.

But nothing happened.

He pulled at it again. Lukas never locked the door. Mathias started banging on the door when the mumbling suddenly stopped. A slight glow was coming from underneath the door and it was slowly getting stronger. Lukas was now speaking, almost screaming on the other side of the door but to Mathias it sounded like he was speaking another language so he didn't understand a single word. But it didn't matter, it sounded like Lukas was in trouble so all he could think about was getting through the locked door.

After a lot of banging, kicking and screaming, the door finally flew open and he stumbled inside. "Lukas! Lukas, are you okay?" The sight that met his eyes stopped his worried yelling and he could only stare in shock. Lukas was hanging in the air a few feet above the ground and underneath him was a big symbol Mathias had never seen before. The only light in the room was a few candles, all with different colored flames. The startled nation slowly made his way towards Lukas that was now mumbling words that didn't make any sense. "Lukas, what…" All of a sudden Lukas head turned towards Mathias, his eyes rolled back so only the whites was showing and his body started shaking violently, the flames on the candles burned brighter and the circle started glowing stronger. In the middle of all this chaos Mathias could only make out one thing, a weak whisper coming from the only other person in the room.

"Help"

He didn't hesitate for a second before tackling Lukas out of the circle, which moments later lit up so bright they couldn't even look at it. It grew even brighter before disappearing in a shockwave that threw both nations across the room and made the entire house shake. The last thing Mathias saw was Lukas laying dusty and unconscious on the ground before everything went dark.

He didn't know for how long he had been unconscious but when he woke up something felt off. He managed to crawl to Lukas that had still not woken up. He tried waking him up but it was no use. With shaking hands he slowly reached to check his pulse and he let out a relieved sigh when he felt the weak pounding.

"What's going on?" A voice was coming from the door and when Mathias turned around he could see Emil standing there, seemingly healthy.

"I…I don't know, I just came down and It seemed like Lukas was in trouble and I didn't know what to do so I pushed him away and there was this light and I just-" his rambling was interrupted when he realized that the small nation was staring at him. "What's wrong?" Emil just pointed at him.

"Ears" then he moved his finger downwards "Tail". Mathias moved his hands to his ears but paled when he couldn't find them. He kept moving his hands higher and found something furry and pointy on the top of his head. He looked behind him and could see a long fluffy tail sticking out from in-between his clothes.

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 **A/N Hello and thank you for reading! This is my first multichapter and I would appreciate reviews! Don't worry, the chapters will get longer.**


	2. Chapter 2: Confusion

**Chapter Two**

Confusion

After they had moved Lukas to his bed they both sat down next to him and just stared for a while at nothing, both caught up in their own thoughts. "What the hell is this?" Mathias stared at Emil for a second and added "And how can you be up and walking?" It looked like Emil hadn't actually thought about it and moved his hands over his body.

"I don't know, I feel fine" Mathias shook his head and stood up.

"Well, at least you're alright" He smiled and ruffled the smaller nations hair.

"Hey! Stop that!" Emil swatted away his hand and pointed at his tail and ears.

"We still have to figure those out though"

"Yeah, I know" Mathias answered and reached back to grab the tail in an attempt to get a closer look but just as he was about to grab it, it changed direction. "What the-" He tried again, but it was as if the tail had a mind of its own and was not feeling like being caught. While Mathias was trying to get a hold of his tail, Emil was just looking at him, rather amused by the fact that Mathias was now spinning in circles trying to catch it. After a while he couldn't help but chuckle, which made Mathias stop and look at him. "What's so funny?"

"You're chasing your tail, just like a dog" Before he could answer, the phone rang. With a quick glance toward Lukas he left the room.

"Hello, this is Math-"

"Stop clinging on me! Get off- Bloody hell Alfred let me just talk for a second!" He was interrupted by a lot of panting and swearing and it sounded like the people on the other end was having some sort of a struggle.

"Hey Arthur is that you?" Mathias waited while the struggle on the other end continued and when Arthur finally returned, he did not sound happy.

"Lukas you there?"

"No, this is Mathias, What is going on?"

"That's something I'd love to know, did you guys do something?" Mathias had walked into the almost destroyed room and was looking around thinking back to the event that had just unfolded.

"Yeah, Lukas was doing something but when I came in the thing sort of exploded and now Lukas isn't waking up and I grew a tail and-" He was interrupted by the man on the other side of the line.

"Wait, I can't understand that rambling, so he was doing some sort of spell?"

"Yes"

"And it failed?"

"I think so"

"And you don't know which spell?"

"No"

"And you grew a tail?" Once again, Mathias looked at the tail sticking out behind him and sighed.

"Yes, and ears." He could hear movement from Arthur and something heavy hitting a table.

"Did something happen to the others?"

"Well, Lukas hasn't woken up yet, but Iceland recovered from his illness"

"I see" He could hear pages turn, apparently Arthur was flipping through a book or something.

"Did something happen to you too?"

"Yes, it seems like all nations has been affected" When they hung up, Mathias had to sit down for a while. All the other nations could be in trouble and it was all their fault.

"Is everything okay?" Emil looked at him from the door, worried about the Danes expression.

"No, no, it's not"

.

As Arthur hung up the phone, Alfred finally managed to break through the door he had just minutes earlier been forcefully pushed through. He was waving his arms around like a maniac pointing at himself and then at Arthur that sighed "Well at least it's quiet". Angrily the American picked up a piece of paper and wrote down.

"Not funny". Arthur patted his head.

"Don't worry, I'll fix this". He didn't mention the fact that fixing it would be much easier now that Alfred couldn't talk. It was very unusual for the house to be this quiet when Alfred was visiting and it was somehow soothing.

"Meow" Arthur looked down at his feet where a small cat was sitting, staring up at him. He picked it up and scratched behind its ears.

"We're going to fix you too don't worry". He put down the Canadian and looked over at Alfred that was sitting on the sofa looking really down for being ignored.

"Has Francis come out yet?" When Alfred shook his head Arthur decided to force him out. He walked to the bathroom and banged on the door. "You can't stay in there forever"

"…Yes I can"

"It can't be that bad" After a lot of talking and a bit of screaming, the bathroom door slowly opened. When Francis got out Arthur understood why he had run off as soon as they woke up. His hair was a mess, standing out all over his head, and he wasn't wearing anything else except an old rag.

"It doesn't go away Arthur" He said angrily gripping the other nation while shaking him violently "How can you be so calm about this, it's a disaster!?" Arthur managed to release himself from the grip.

"Since I'm the only one that has even the slightest idea of what is going on it would not help for me to panic, if I panic I can't help you guys"

"Does that mean you care about me?"

"THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID!"

.

Since there wasn't anything they could do for Lukas at the moment the two nations sat down in the living room and tried to figure out what actually had happened. Since neither of them actually knew anything about magic it didn't go very well. Their thoughts were interrupted by a sudden banging on the door. Just as Emil stood up to answer it, they could hear the door open and quick footsteps closing in.

"Where are you guys?" they could hear an unknown voice calling.

"We're in here?" Mathias answered questioningly. The footsteps came closer and the door to the living room flew open. In came a girl they had never met before. She had blonde hair just reaching her shoulders and wore a light blue uniform. But what really gave her away was the beret that now had gotten askew in what seemed like a rushed drive here.

"Tino, is that you!?"

"WHAT IS GOING ON?"


	3. Chapter 3: Man or Woman

**Chapter 3**

Man or Woman

Tino was standing in the middle of the room, breathing heavily from the rush and the shock of turning into a woman. Emil stared at him and let out a small giggle "Well, should we call you Tina now or what?"

"Very funny Emil" He sat down in one of the comfy chairs and tried to get his breathing under control again but it didn't go very well when he looked at the other two. His eyes grew wide when he suddenly saw the ears on Mathias head. "WHAT IS THAT?"

"Oh yeah, I got a matching tail too."

He stood up and turned around, showing off his new style. Tino stared at him and shook his head to try and clear his mind "What exactly IS going on?"

"Well…"

After telling him about the failed spell, the explosion and the conversation with Arthur, Tino had finally calmed down and was listening carefully.

"…so we agreed that the best thing to do was to call for a world meeting. We're going to hold it in Copenhagen in a few days and meanwhile, Arthur will look for a solution."

Tino leaned back to process all that he had heard while twirling his now long hair between his fingers. Mathias suddenly realized something. "How did you get here so fast?"

Tino was brought back from his thoughts by the question "I was already on my way here to check how Emil was doing when I suddenly was pushed back in my seat and fell asleep or something, luckily there wasn't much to crash into at the side of the road!" His positivity made the others chuckle, only Tino would take a car crash this easily. "Well the car is pretty much ruined and I had to walk some part of the way, but I'm here now at least!" Tino smiled and looked at Emil. "And it looks like you're feeling better now!"

"Why don't you stay here until the meeting then? You will have a hard time getting back if your car is broken and we have plenty of space!"

Mathias made an inviting movement with his hands, smiling at the thought of more people in the house. "Why not? I can't get back home anyways" They both turned towards Emil when he suddenly burst out in a laughing fit very unlike his usually calm self. He lifted one hand and pointed towards Mathias.

"I can't believe it" He managed to say between his chuckles. "You really like people visiting don't you?"

"Well of course I do! The more the merrier, right?" He really enjoyed having a lot of people around him and when he was alone at home he could never help but feeling a bit sad. Of course he would never admit that to the others. Tino suddenly started laughing as well and Mathias begun questioning their sanity. "What is it with you guys?" Tino pointed at him.

"Well, you can't hide your emotions very well like this, can you?" Mathias suddenly realized what they were all laughing about. He looked behind him where his tail was quickly waving from side to side, out of his control. Mathias couldn't do anything else besides joining the other two. It felt good to laugh like this and they all felt like they needed it. Tino looked around suddenly realizing something.

"Isn't Berwald here?" The other two stopped laughing and looked at each other.

"No he isn't"

"And you haven't heard from him?"

"No"

"Oh God I hope nothing bad has happened"

Emil stood up, a bit embarrassed that he had forgotten about the big nation "I'll try to call him". He walked out into the kitchen where the phone was located and dialed the well-known number. As Emil left, Mathias looked over at Tino.

"So how does it feel to be a woman?" he said jokingly.

"I'm not a woman!"

"Take it easy, I'm just joking!

"Just because I have a woman's body doesn't mean I'm a woman, I'm a man. A manly man!"

"Yeah, Yeah. The manliest." Mathias smiled as Tino slowly sat down again. Tino was used to being called girly and he usually didn't care but right now it just felt wrong being called a woman. Probably because he actually wasn't sure what he was right now, he still felt like himself but he did have the body of a woman. After a moment of silence Tino grabbed Mathias by the collar.

"What is the definition of a woman?"

"What?" Mathias wasn't sure about what Tino was asking and he didn't have long to think about it either because Emil was just returning from the kitchen.

"He isn't picking up, not on his cell phone or the one he has at home, I'm getting worried" He looked at the other two and added "Maybe we should go look for him."

"No need to worry, It's late and he's probably sleeping by now and you know what a heavy sleeper he is" Mathias patted the young boys head "He probably won't notice any change until tomorrow" Emil nodded, he didn't look completely convinced but then he let out a big yawn quickly followed by another one from Tino. Mathias looked at the clock, it was really late. "How about this?" We all go to sleep now and if we can't reach him tomorrow morning we'll go looking for him, okay?"

"Okay" Emil went back to his room while Mathias showed Tino where he could sleep. After making sure he had everything he needed, Mathias went to check on Lukas. He gently opened the door and walked up to the sleeping nation. He looked really peaceful like this, but Mathias didn't want anything more than for him to wake up again. To be honest, he would like to scoot down next to him to make sure nothing happened during the night, but he knew that would be crossing some boundaries. He pulled up the covers and decided to sleep on the couch right outside the room instead, so he hopefully could hear if something happened. As he laid down and pulled up the covers, he couldn't help but worry. About Lukas, about Berwald, about this whole situation and also about what would happen to Emil when they broke the spell. Would he get sick again? After a lot of turning and tossing around, he finally fell into a restless sleep filled with unpleasant dreams.

.

Arthur yawned as he closed the book and added it to the growing pile. He hadn't found any answer in this one either. Alfred and Francis had gone to bed long ago and Matthew was currently sleeping in his lap, purring when Arthur patted his head. He looked at the clock and decided to look through one more book before going to bed, but as he opened it he felt a sudden pressure on his shoulder and something puffing at his arm. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he continued reading as the puffing continued. The others had been far too busy with their own problems to ask him what his was. He didn't care about that, they wouldn't see it as a big problem anyway since they had never seen them.

His friends. The ones that had always been there for him. The ones very few could see. The ones the others claimed was "Imaginary". But they were very real to him and he cared for them a lot. That's why he had to work hard to undo this magic, for all the other nations as well, but mostly so he could see his friends again. Right now he couldn't, he couldn't see them and he couldn't hear them. He could only feel their presence.

"Two more books, I can handle two more books"

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 **A/N:** Thank you to Marzue for your feedback! I have tried improving the things you mentioned and the chapters will get longer!


	4. Chapter 4: New Bodies

**Chapter 4**

New Bodies

Mathias woke up early, still tired from his lack of sleep. He looked at the clock and sighed before he got up from the sofa and headed into the kitchen. It was 6 am and the rest of the house was still asleep. Mathias decided to surprise them all with a big breakfast and after a quick check up on Lukas, he began preparing all of their favorites; different kinds of sandwiches, bacon, egg, yogurt, coffee and some hot chocolate that he knew both Tino and Emil would appreciate.

"Good morning!" The sudden voice from the doorway made him jump and suddenly turn around, sweeping down some of the cups with his tail so they fell onto the floor with a big crash. Shards flew everywhere and Mathias froze in place so he wouldn't hit anything else or step on any of the shards. "Sorry" Tino had already begun to pick up the bigger shards while he looked like he was having a hard time not laughing. "Having trouble with the tail?" he managed to say. Mathias carefully made his way through the kitchen, "accidentally" smacking Tino gently in the back of his head.

"You would have trouble moving around too if you grew a completely new body part." Tino was just about to answer when they heard Emil coming down the stairs.

"What's going on?" he said as he walked into the room. When he saw the current chaos in the kitchen, he sighed and went to fetch a broom. When they had managed to pick up all the shards, Emil decided to help Mathias with the breakfast while Tino tried to call Berwald again. After five calls and a voice message he went back into the kitchen and sat down.

"He didn't answer now either and he's usually up by now." Mathias placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of Tino before joining him at the table with Emil close behind.

"Well, we decided that we would look for him if we couldn't reach him so we'll head out immediately after we've eaten. Does that sound good?" Emil and Tino nodded and filled their plates with food. When the dishes were done, they decided that Emil would stay behind to keep an eye on his brother while the other two would go and look for Berwald. It was a three hour drive to him and then three hours back and they didn't want to leave Lukas alone for that long. It was a lovely day and the sun was shining. They took a deep breath of the clear morning air before they sat into the car and begun their journey.

.

Matthew sat on the ground next to the sleeping Arthur that had fallen asleep in the middle of his research. He thought about waking him up, but at the same time he knew that Arthur hadn't slept much that night. He sighed, as well as a cat can sigh, and jumped up on the sofa to curl into a ball. Matthew looked at the clock on the wall. It was only 6 am and the rest would probably not wake up in a few hours. He was really tired of this room now since he had been there since last night. Being a cat wasn't actually so bad, he could see everything from a completely new perspective and all the smells and sounds where different. The biggest problem was that he couldn't open doors and since the others were too caught up in their own problems to remember him, he had gotten stuck in here when the others had gone to bed. Matthew was used to being ignored so he didn't take it too hard, but it still hurt.

And he really needed the toilet right now.

.

After half the way they decided to take a break to fill up gas and visit the toilet. They stopped at a gas station and Tino went inside to buy something for the rest of the ride while Mathias filled up the tank. He was just about to pay for their things when Mathias came inside the store. "What's taking so long?"

"There was a line"

"Oh, I see" Mathias smiled in his usual way and packed their candy, sandwiches and drinks in a bag while Tino paid the cashier that was staring at the dog eared man. They went outside and noticed that another car had stopped next to theirs and a gang of teenage boys were getting out of it. Because of the amount of bags they had loaded into the trunk it looked like they were going camping. Mathias got into the driver seat of their car and Tino was walking around it to get in the passenger seat when someone stopped him by putting an arm around his shoulders.

"Why don't you dump that guy and come with us instead sweetie?" The boy smelled of cigarette smoke and his friends were smiling creepily at Tino. He shook the boys arm off.

"No, I don't want to"

"Oh come on, think about all the fun we could have!" The way he said "fun" and the way his friends started laughing made Tino feel sick. The arm was back around his shoulder and another of the boys had grabbed his wrist and was pulling him towards their car.

"Let go of me"

"Such a pretty girl like you surely likes to have a good time right? We'll give you a really good time."

"LET GO" The other boys were now circling like vultures around him, eyeing him all over. Tino felt his anger build up, something like this shouldn't be happening and it wouldn't have happened if he had his old body. He wondered if it was this kind of thing women had to go through all the time. He closed his eyes for a moment and elbowed the guy holding an arm round him in his shoulders.

"Why don't you all just fuck off?"

.

It took him two hours to give up. Francis looked at the hairbrush in his hand before he threw it into the wall. Just to check one more time, he took of the rag and just like all the times before a new one materialized on his body. There was a pile laying on the floor with all the rags he had tried to get off, but a new one would always appear. It didn't matter what he tried to do to his hair even though he knew all the little tricks for perfect hair. Instead of screaming and breaking things like he felt like doing, he picked up the pile and walked over to the room he was staying in where he dropped it on the floor. Francis had faith in Arthur and knew that he would find a solution for this. He really hoped so. He walked back to the living room and carefully opened the door. As Matthew slipped out, Francis walked up slowly to the sleeping Arthur and put a hand on his shoulder. The sudden pressure startled Arthur that quickly sat up.

"Yes, I'll fix it!" He blinked and rubbed his eyes before he looked up. "Oh, it's you"

"Have you been up all night?" Francis looked around the room. Piles of books of all shapes and sizes where everywhere and random sheets of paper where spread all over the floor. The desk was filled with notes and on it laid an open book where the pages showed a human in what looked like a very painful transformation. Arthur closed the book when he noticed Francis stare and turned around.

"Almost, but I don't understand! I mean look here" He picked up a book from the pile to his right and after flipping through it for a moment he gave the book to Francis and pointed at a picture. "Here read the description" Francis squinted and read out loud.

"To make the enemy easy to defeat, follow the steps described below and you will make them unable to call for help" Francis looked up at him, chocked. "This is just like…"

"Yes, but that is not all" Arthur stood up and reached for a book he had placed on a shelf. He took it down and just like before he gave the book to Francis. "This is just like Mathias described it. The ears and the tail" Francis looked at the picture that was showing a man crouching with a pair of ears coming out from his head and a long tail sticking out behind him. "I found Matthews and mine too and I do believe the others should be around here somewhere"

"Do you know how to fix this?" Francis was hopeful, if Arthur knew this much then maybe he would know how to reverse it too.

"No, no I don't" Francis felt his hopes fade away but when he looked into the eyes of the tired nation he couldn't show it. What he saw in those eyes where not defeat but determination. Instead, he gave Arthur a pat on his shoulder and walked back to his room where he sat down on the floor and spent the next hour cutting all the rags into pieces. He thought about the fact that they hadn't fought in a pretty long time now and that was very rare. He paused for a moment and thought about something he had read in that last book, something that was bugging him. He put down the scissor and mumbled.

"To increase strength and agility, throw this spell onto yourself. There will be side effects which will give you attributes of a dog. High risk spell: Category 6. If used for too long your instincts might take over and you will lose control of yourself."

He hoped that it didn't mean what he thought it meant.

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 **A/N:** Thank you again for reading! All favs/follows/reviews are really appreciated! The updates will get a bit slower since homework has started pouring in but I'll update at least once a week! Also, I do know that most boys don't act like this and I am not trying to say that all boys are bad with this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5: The Fifth Nation

**Chapter 5**

The Fifth Nation

"Tino please calm down!"

"No, Let go! Let me crush them!"

Mathias had grabbed Tino by the waist and was trying to pull him away from the boys laying defeated on the ground. He had been sitting in the car waiting for Tino when he suddenly heard yelling and the sound of fists meeting faces. As he got out of the car he saw three boys was down on the ground. One was holding his hands over his stomach, one had blood dripping out of his nose and the last one was completely pale and clearly in pain, holding both hands over his groin. Three other guys were standing dumbfounded next to the group with their eyes fixed on Tino that seemed like he was trying to calm himself down. He had turned around to get into the car before he could hurt anyone else but…

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" One of the remaining boys had thrown himself towards Tino and managed to get a grip around him. "You think you'll get away with that? You're weak, just caught us of guard you know" Mathias had rushed to help, not sure who he would help. Of course he understood that the teenagers were the ones that had started this and definitely deserved to get some sense beaten into them, but he also knew Tino well enough to know what could happen if he lost his temper like this. Before Mathias even reached them, Tino got a grip of the guys arm and with a high pitched scream he threw the guy over his shoulder. It was when Tino began walking towards the last two boys that was standing with their hands up to show their surrender that Mathias stepped in and tried to get Tino back into the car.

"They are giving up, you won"

"They need to learn their lesson!" Mathias managed to drag and pull Tino to the passenger seat where he pushed him inside and told him to stay put. When he walked back to the boys they were just getting up from the ground and as he passed, the boy that had gotten thrown over Tinos shoulder spoke to him.

"Damn man, you need to control your lady. Put her on a leash or something." For the second time that day, the boy was sent flying through the air and landed hard on the pavement. He would have more than a few bruises when he woke up the next day. Mathias quickly sat back into the car and pushed the gas pedal as far back as it could go and they drifted of back onto the road. It took them half an hour and a speeding ticket for them to calm down enough to think clearly. Tino was the first one to speak.

"You shouldn't punch people like that"

"Am I really hearing this from YOU?"

"But I had a reason" Tino reached into the backseat and grabbed a pack of licorice that he ripped open and took a bite of. The familiar taste had a calming effect on him and he leaned back into his seat and sighed. "I should have just walked away"

"They will be fine don't worry" Mathias could see that Tino felt guilty, he could have really hurt those boys and Tino really hated when he lost control like that. It didn't often happen but if no one was there to stop him when it did, it could end really badly. Tino reached back again and grabbed a small box with pastries that he opened and passed to Mathias.

"Here, it's your favorite" Mathias smiled and grabbed one even though he knew they would have a taste of gas station he would still enjoy it. They took a bite almost simultaneously and Mathias could feel the sweet flavor fill his mouth, but then he felt something else too. The awful taste quickly filled his mouth and he couldn't do anything but spit it out. He threw the pastry in a bag they used for trash before he noticed Tino looking at him. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, it tasted awful"

"Maybe it's something wrong with your taste buds? There's nothing wrong with mine" Tino took another bite and chewed carefully. Without taking his eyes of the road, Mathias reached back and managed to grab a ham and cheese sandwich. After throwing away the cheese he ate it, actually finding it tasting good. The rest of the ride was spent in comfortable silence with the radio playing in the background. After another hour of driving they finally turned onto a small forest path that led to Berwalds cabin where he usually spent his summers. They parked the car in front of the small building and got out.

"Well, the car is here at least" They could see Berwalds old car parked in its usual spot and walked up to the front door. Since their knocking didn't get any answer they pushed down the handle and opened the unlocked door. "Hey Berwald, are you here?" When they didn't get any response they moved into the small house. After looking through every room they met again in front of the door.

"Where could he be?" Tino looked around the hall and noticed something. "His coat and shoes isn't here. Do you think he's outside?" As if to answer his question, they heard a sudden noise coming from the former shed that Berwald had made into a small workshop. They ran over and threw open the door and coughed when dust whirled up from the floor. It took them a few seconds to adjust to the darkness but when they did, they could see a chaotic mess laying on the floor. Tools were sprawled all over and a shelf had fallen over.

"Hello?"

"Here" they heard a voice right by their feet and when they looked down they could see a small boy seemingly stuck underneath the fallen shelf.

"Oh god, Peter is that you?" Tino quickly grabbed the corner of the shelf and pulled but just barely managed to lift it. Mathias took hold of the other corner and together they lifted the heavy, handmade shelf and put it back to its position. When they turned around again, the young boy was already standing on his feet and was picking something up from the floor. "Peter, are you okay?" They saw how the boy dusted of his clothes and put the glasses he just picked up from the floor back on. It was when he shot them a very familiar glare they suddenly realized.

"Berwald?" They both said at the same time.

"Thanks" It wasn't until now that Berwald actually got a good look at his two friends and for a moment, surprise was showing in his eyes but since he had spent a long time underneath a shelf to think about his situation he was somehow relieved that he wasn't the only one in trouble. He hoped to get some answers as well. While Berwald was thinking about all this, the other two was finally recovering from the shock and Mathias was having a hard time not to burst out laughing. He was so small, looked like a 5 year old, and the glare he had given them earlier was the same as it always had been but now it was only adorable instead of scary.

"Maybe we should move somewhere else?" Tino pointed at the door. "This might not be the best place to talk." As they walked outside and towards the house, Mathias looked down at Berwald.

"At least your clothes shrunk too so you won't trip"

"I guess so-" A branch laying on the ground made the now small nation fall onto the ground and when he rolled over, Mathias could no longer contain his laughter. Even Tino giggled and ran over to him just as he got up again with a blush on his face. Leaves were stuck in his hair and his glasses had gotten askew. Tino could no longer able to stop himself, something within him told him to help this small child, so he brushed of the leaves and picked him up. He carried the now very red Berwald inside with Mathias following laughing behind them and sat him down in the living room.

"If you're just going to laugh, why don't you fix some food while I explain?"

"I'm sorry, It's just so ironic" Mathias chuckled as he headed into the kitchen.

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 **A/N** Thank you so much for the reviews! It keeps me going! But don't worry, the chances of me discontinuing this is pretty much nonexcistent. Looking forward to your thoughts!

Disclamer: I don't own Hetalia.


	6. Chapter 6: Cuteness trouble

**Chapter 6**

Cuteness trouble

"So we'll wait until the meeting and then hope Arthur has solved everything?"

Tino couldn't tear his eyes away. The voice, the big eyes, the puffy cheeks, it was all too adorable for him. Berwald was still looking at him while waiting for an answer when Mathias came back carrying a plate with toast, coffee and cinnamon buns. His eyes where still a bit teary when he sat down next to Berwald but he managed to keep quiet. Tino was finally broken out of his trance when he received a smoking hot cup of coffee.

"Yes, the meeting will be the day after tomorrow. We've asked all other nations to-" Tino was stunned silent when Berwald took a big bite of a sandwich and most of the marmalade ended up around his mouth instead of inside it.

"-to check on their closest friends so we can make sure no one is in any direct danger." Mathias finished while he tried to not become captivated by the small nation just as Tino was. Berwald nodded and tried to not notice their stares while taking another bite.

"Well, that sounds good I guess" Berwald said and looked at Tino that took a sip from his coffee to try and distract himself. Tino suddenly realized something.

"You're speaking perfectly" Tino stared at Berwald that stopped eating in the middle of a bite and felt his face get pale. He glanced quickly towards Mathias that had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Tino noticed the atmosphere change and quickly added "Well that's good right?". Berwald started chewing slowly again and Mathias gave of a small fake laugh in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"It's probably something with the spell right?" He smiled and even though Tino understood that there was something the others weren't telling him, he let it pass this time. The awkward silence was interrupted by a phone call to Mathias cellphone. Relieved, he stood up and left the room before he picked up.

"Hello, this is Mathias" He was met with complete silence on the other end of the phone. "Hello?" he said again but then he heard something that sounded like footsteps on the other end. He waited and could make out a door slamming before he finally heard some voices.

"What is it Alfred? Didn't we tell you to call Mathias?" There was a moment of silence before he could hear an "Oh right" and someone else picking up the phone. "Are you still there?"

"Yes, what are you guys doing?"

"Well, we're all just a bit tired." Francis sighed into the phone. "It's been a long day" He looked around the room. There was even more books and papers spread out all over the place than it had been in the morning and at the far end of the room he could see Arthur fast asleep, almost completely covered in notes he had written. "We have made some progress"

"Great! Tell me about it!" Mathias felt hopeful, if they could solve this without having to hold a world meeting it would be perfect. He felt guilty about all this, if he hadn't interrupted the spell all of this might not have happened. On the other hand, something might have happened to Lukas and that would have been much worse. Mathias sat down on the handmade couch and listened to Francis.

"Apparently we are all affected by different kinds of spells and Arthur thinks that he might be able to cancel them out one by one." He looked over at the exhausted Arthur that was mumbling in his sleep. "But to not take any risks I think he'd like to come over to Lukas house"

"Well that's fine, when will you come here?" While Mathias and Francis was making plans, Tino was finally able to tear his eyes away from Berwald and was now looking out the window with his thoughts whirling around in his head. He was worried, he was worried about a lot of things. What if they didn't manage to undo this? Would he have to be a woman forever then? With a glance towards Berwald he figured he still wouldn't be the worst one off but it would still take some time to adjust. A lot of questions flew through his head. How do you manage long hair? Would he have to buy bras? Aren't those expensive? How would he shower? Why was his back starting to hurt? How could Berwald look so adorable? When that last thought came to mind he realized that he was once again staring at Berwald that tried very hard not to notice it. While blushing, Tino stood up and walked outside to get some fresh air.

Alone once again Berwald finally relaxed and let out a sigh he had been holding in. He was used to people staring at him but this was a whole new kind of stare. It was not the "Oh god please don't beat me up and eat me" stare, it was more of a "Look at this helpless child, we need to protect it" kind of stare and he didn't like it. He didn't like feeling helpless. He also didn't like that Tino seemed to feel so down about this whole situation. He hated when Tino felt sad, especially when he didn't know what to do to make it better, and the problem was so silly. Even if he had a different body, it was still Tino and it was Tino he adored. Though he would never have the courage to admit it. Mathias returned from the other room at the same time as Tino returned from outside.

"We should start driving back soon, Arthur will be coming later tonight and we should probably be there when he arrives." Berwald nodded and hopped of the couch to the others delight. They cleaned up the mess they had made and left the house, locked the door and walked out to the car. Mathias opened the back door and made some adjustments, he popped up a built in car seat for children since Berwald was too short for the seat belt without it. Mathias then turned towards him while making an inviting movement with his hand.

"No way" Berwald stared at him and shook his head. This was more than he could handle in a day. Or in a life time for all that matters.

"Come on, we can't afford another ticket so we'll have to follow the law this time". Berwald squinted at him, probably questioning why they already had gotten a ticket, and slowly made his way towards the car. He ignored Mathias hand that was reached out to help him and managed to climb inside. Mathias rounded the car chuckling and sat down in the driver seat with Tino next to him. He started the car and they drove off towards the Norwegian border.

.

Antonio woke up at the same time as the other nations but with a splitting headache, when the wave hit he had fallen hard onto the stone floor. He got up and managed to walk into the big, open kitchen where he sat down on a chair. The headache was already fading showing one of the perks of being a country. But something felt off and he couldn't say exactly what it was. Suddenly, he saw a movement at the corner of his eye and looked over. He stood up and walked to the window where he could see that it was very late. He squinted and once again he saw movement from the other side of the big lawn that he always looked over with great care. Antonio grabbed the closes weapon he could find which was a cooking pot laying in the sink, ready to get cleaned, and walked while trying to not make a single sound outside.

"Who's there?" If this was just any day he would have walked over, unarmed, and invited the person, he could see a shadow perfectly shaped like a human standing there, standing amongst the trees inside but today had been strange all over. It started with an argument between him and Lovino, they usually didn't actually fight even though Lovino often called him some mean things. Antonio knew he didn't actually mean it. But today he had gotten mad at something and they had had a big falling out and right now he couldn't even remember what they fought about. Then that weird wave hit and he passed out and now this. The person was standing completely still so Antonio carefully snuck closer. He couldn't see him clearly because of the dark so he closed the last few steps between them and lifted his hand.

"Are you oka-" He froze in the middle of reaching out towards the "person" and then burst out laughing. It was just a tree oddly shaped like a person. When his laughter had faded into giggles he turned towards the house again and walked over the lawn. He figured he had gotten a bit paranoid after his weird day. It felt good laughing a bit and he felt his tension slowly fade away. Nothing had actually happened and he decided that he would talk to Lovino in the morning. He felt more positive as he came closer to the house and thought about what "I'm sorry" gift would be the best one.

That's probably why he made the mistake of letting his guard down.


	7. Chapter 7: Switch

**Chapter 7**

Switch

Francis had just hung up the phone when Arthur yawned and woke up. He blinked at the light and looked around, still a bit disoriented. Alfred was sitting on the couch with Matthew next to him while staring at Arthur, waiting for him to wake up.

"What time is it?"

"9.30" Francis looked at the clock. "You should go to your room and get some more sleep, we'll be leaving in a few hours" Arthur looked at him questioningly so Francis added "We're going to Lukas place" Arthur nodded and made his way out of the room.

"I'm not going to sleep because you told me to!" They heard him shout as he left which made Francis shake his head and smile. It seemed like he was finally reverting back to some old habits. As Arthur sat down on his bed he took out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found the right number. He pressed call and waited.

"Yes hello" Vladimir answered just as he had when Arthur called him a few hours ago.

"Hey it's me, still hanging in there?"

"Very funny Arthur" Arthur tried hard to not laugh at his own joke. Apparently the Romanian was now stuck in the ceiling as gravity had reversed itself for him. "I'm just lucky I wasn't outside"

"You got anything new?"

"No, just same as you. I read here that… Oh shit" Arthur heard a soft thud as Vladimir dropped the book. "Now I'll have to drag myself down there again" A sigh was heard before he continued "Anyway I found the spells that affected me and Francis" As he explained the details, Arthur laid down on his bed and closed his eyes for a moment. He looked forward to when this was all over. "…and as you know, I'll not be able to make it to the meeting" He finished.

"Well, keep looking. I'm going to Lukas place tonight to see if I can get some answers." He yawned as he ended the call and rolled over to the side. He fell asleep almost immediately and did actually get a few hours of sleep.

.

Antonio was laying face down in the cold grass and tried to figure out how he had gotten there. He tried to stand up but something was pushing him down and the pressure only got higher. Soon he couldn't breathe, he couldn't think and as his vision turned darker he heard a soft laugh in his ear. A very familiar laugh. Then he fell. He felt like he was drifting away from his own body and everything around him was dark. No voice came out of him and he lost all feeling of time. How long he fell he couldn't say, it could have been minutes and it could have been years, he only knew that he finally hit something hard and saw a light forming above him. Antonio opened his eyes and felt strange. He was still laying on the grass but now he was on his back and could see how the sky slowly turned lighter.

"Well isn't this nice" a voice said from somewhere around his feet. Antonio tried to sit up and panicked when he couldn't. He couldn't move his legs at all and he couldn't even feel his feet. He tried moving his arms and felt relieved when he could move them, at least from side to side. He heard movement as the person knelt over him and when they came face to face Antonio stopped breathing. He didn't understand a thing as the man slowly put a hand on Antonios cheek. "Poor little thing" Antonio stared into the mans smiling eyes, into his own eyes, as his body stood up again leaving him on the ground. At the realization that someone else was using his body he did whatever he could. He moved his arms up and down, he tried to move the rest of his body too and eventually he started screaming. He saw how his body turned towards him and chuckled "I'm the only one that can hear you"

"Who are you?" Antonio stared at him and waited for an answer. His body shook its head and made a fake disappointed face.

"Don't you recognize me? I've been by your side all your life and you don't remember me, I'm so disappointed" He smiled brightly, with an evil look in his eyes and once again leaned in above Antonio. "I've waited for so many years to switch places with you and finally I got my chance" As his body started moving towards the house and Antonio felt how something tugged at his ankles, dragging him along, he suddenly realized and felt like his heart froze.

"You're my shadow" He was rewarded by a soft chuckle as he was dragged up the stairs and his new body followed the steps perfectly.

"Not anymore" Antonio felt like he was spinning as the light changed and he moved. As they entered the kitchen he was suddenly nailed to the wall instead of to the ground. He was still trying to process the fact that he was a shadow and not just any shadow, but his own shadow. He saw how his body first stretched its fingers, then arms and finally it started jumping up and down. Antonio wondered why he could still move his arms freely, why he didn't mimic the movements of his body but there was more important questions right now.

"What do you want?" His body turned towards him with an evil grin and walked closer.

"Isn't it obvious? All I want is the things you never wanted. Us shadows knows every little detail about our, what should we call it, captors and all we ever want is to get revenge on them" Antonio shook from fear as his body slowly made his way through the kitchen and sat down on a chair. "I know how to act like you and how to speak like you"

"Hey! Antonio, you bastard! Are you okay?" They heard from the front porch. His body grinned and stood up to answer.

"Yes wait a second Lovi!" Once again standing up, they made their way towards the front door. Before opening, Antonio got a cold stare from the thing controlling his body.

"Don't" He couldn't breathe.

"I also know how to hurt you the most"

.

The car radio was playing on a high volume and the atmosphere was good as they drove back towards Lukas house. Berwald was wondering why Mathias and Tino was staring suspiciously at every gas station they passed but figured that it didn't really matter. He opened a bag of candy that he found in the backseat and put one in his mouth. The sweet flavor surprised him, it tasted even better than it usually did. As he quickly reached in to grab another one, they drove through a small bump causing Berwald to drop the candy. He saw it fall onto the floor and stared at it for a while. Why did he feel so sad? It was just a piece of candy and he had plenty left but he had really wanted that piece. While Berwald fought his tears and confusion in the backseat, Tino was looking through the window. "Do you think everyone is okay?" Mathias looked at him and sighed.

"I don't know, we can only hope so." His grip tightened on the steering wheel as the turned onto a smaller road. He knew that everyone would be checked upon and that if someone was in immediate danger they would know but something made him feel uneasy. He couldn't say exactly what but he had a terrible feeling that something would go wrong. "Do you think that-" He looked at Tino that had fallen asleep and clearly didn't hear a word he said. Mathias chuckled and looked in the back mirror at Berwald, blinked and asked "Are you crying?"

"Am not" Berwald sniffled as an answer.

 **A/N:** I would like to give a big thank you to Marzue that has reviewed every chapter so far! I'm having really fun writing this and reviews makes it 100 times more worth it!


	8. Chapter 8: Finding the Weakness

**Chapter 8**

Finding the Weakness

Lovino noticed how the lights turned off before Antonio opened the door with that stupid smile of his. "Lovino! Come in!" He walked inside of the all too familiar house and sat down on the couch before he eyed Antonio. It didn't seem to have become any physical change to him at least as it had with Feliciano. Lovino shrugged as he remembered the meeting he had with his brother only a few hours ago, just after they had woken up. It had been awful. He pushed the memory aside as he noticed Antonio looking at him with a weird smile on his face.

"What is it?"

"Nothing" He sat down on the couch next to him and Lovino sighed.

"Did you get the text?" From the confused look in Antonios face he could tell that he hadn't seen it. "They sent it to everyone, told us that some spell went wrong and we're all affected in some way" He stretched his arms a bit before he added. "I feel fine though"

"Ah that explains this then" Lovino saw how he stood up and turned the lights on in the room. He gasped when he saw how Antonios shadow waved like crazy with its arms all on its own. "It seems my shadow has come to life somehow"

"That's pretty cool actually" He walked over to the wall and touched the shadows hand, making it stop waving around and instead try to grab for Lovinos hand. He felt like something was off but before he could think about it for long, Lovino was yanked around and pulled in close to Antonios chest. "What are you doing!?"

"Ssh, it's time to sleep now" Lovino felt how his eyes got heavy and his body limb, the last thing he saw before falling asleep was the shadow on the wall waving around even more franticly while pulling his hair.

.

The drive back home was pleasant and without anything actually happening. Tino and Berwald slept most of the way while Mathias drove and hummed along with the songs. As they turned up in front of Lukas house, Mathias carefully shook Tinos shoulder. "We made it" Tino slowly opened his eyes and brushed away his hair that had fallen over his face. They heard movement from the backseat as Berwald opened his eyes and rubbed them. As his eyes focused once again he was met by two faces looking at him with adoring eyes.

"Stop it" Berwald pouted at them. Giggling, Tino unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car with Mathias following soon after. After a bit of a fight with the seatbelt, Berwald also hopped out the car. As they walked towards the door they heard voices from within. They looked at each other, it was weird because Arthur shouldn't be there yet. The voices grew louder, it sounded like they were arguing. The door was suddenly kicked open and through it flew Emil, it looked like he had been thrown out. Mathias was quick and managed to catch him before he hit the ground so there wasn't any damage dealt to him.

"Who?" Mathias looked towards the house were a person emerged from the dark house. When Mathias saw him, he felt how his mouth opened in surprise and he couldn't say anything else.

"And stay away from my house!" Lukas slammed the door and left the four nations stunned silent. For a few minutes they just stood there, looking at the closed door, until Emil realized that Mathias was still holding him.

"Could you put me down?" Mathias let the small nation down and looked at him, waiting for an explanation. "So Lukas woke up" Emil scratched his neck and continued "But it seems he doesn't remember us at all" Mathias had to sit down for a moment and the others quickly joined him.

"What happened?" Tino asked softly and waited patiently. Emil thought back to the day that had went by and retold the whole story while he relived it inside his head.

After the others had left, Emil had begun cleaning up throughout the house. He knew that Lukas didn't like it when it was messy and he didn't really have anything better to do. He left the study alone though, thinking that if they didn't touch anything they wouldn't mess anything else up either. Cleaning had only taken about one hour and after a call from Mathias about how gas stations should have better security he had sat down on the couch and fallen asleep. He didn't wake up until he got a second call from Mathias, telling him that they had found Berwald, apparently he was adorable, and that they were about half an hour away. When the call ended, he decided to check on his brother to see if he was okay. When he entered the room Lukas had still been asleep but when he had put a hand on his forehead to check for fever he had suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed his arm, turned him around and locked it behind him. "Who are you?" Lukas had whispered.

"It's me, Emil! Ow, that hurts!" Lukas had pushed him away and looked him over.

"I don't know you" Emil could see in his eyes that he weren't lying. He really had no idea of who he was. Lukas looked at him and added "What are you doing in my house?"

"Can we please sit down and talk?" Lukas had nodded carefully but made sure to walk behind Emil so he couldn't get attacked from behind. Emil sat down in the couch and Lukas had landed in one of the chairs, still tense and ready to defend himself. "So you don't know who I am?" Lukas shook his head and eyed him suspiciously. "Do you know who you are?" Lukas gave him a strange look.

"Of course I do. I'm Lukas, I'm also Norway, and this is my house you're intruding in." He looked around, probably to make sure nothing was stolen, and stood up unable to sit still any longer.

"Do you remember anyone?" Emil felt cold, if his brother had lost his memory it meant he wouldn't be able to remember anything about the spell either. Also, if he felt threatened he might attack and Emil knew that he was no match for Lukas.

"Why would I? I've been living in this house alone all my life" Emil remembered how Lukas had moved his hand up and rubbed his temple as if he had a headache. "I'm not feeling very well"

"Are you okay? Please lay down for a while" Emil was really worried. How could he have forgotten about everyone? He seemed to believe that all he had been doing all his life was living inside this house. Lukas suddenly looked at him with determination in his eyes.

"You did something."

"No I didn't"

"I need you to leave. Now."

"No! I won't leave!" Emil walked up to Lukas, grabbed his shoulders and shook him lightly. "We need to figure this out!"

"Leave!" Lukas showed him away towards the hall. Emil stumbled but managed to stay on his feet and grabbed onto his brother once again. Before he could say anything, Lukas grabbed hold of him and kicked the door open before throwing the smaller nation outside.

"…and then I think you know the rest" Emil finished his story. The others were currently lost in their own thoughts, trying to process Emils story. The first one to break out of his trance was Mathias.

"We have to talk to him" Emil shook his head.

"He's too confused, he won't listen." Tino hit the ground hard with his fist and said, obviously frustrated.

"We've known him forever, we should know him well enough to find a way" Tino looked at the others that didn't seem to have any ideas either. "I could always go get Hana but that would take too long"

"Why Hana?" Emil felt a bit confused. Mathias nodded and sighed.

"Yes, that would have been good. He can't say no to cute things." Emil nodded as he understood. Lukas loved all cute things, he could probably sit and look at a cat for hours though he would never admit it. "Wait a second…" Mathias suddenly looked up at the others. Emil realized at the same time Tino did.

"If he can't say no to anything cute…" Three pair of eyes was suddenly turned towards Berwald that felt a chill run up his spine as he realized what they were all thinking.


	9. Chapter 9: Only a Child

**Chapter** **9**

Only a Child

"No"

"Come on you can do it!"

"I don't know how!" Berwald and Mathias had been arguing for a while now. Mathias was trying to convince Berwald to use his newly gained cuteness to talk to Lukas but Berwald didn't think it would work. He knew nothing of how to act cute and he had never been good at speaking, unless it was a debate of some sort, so how he was supposed to charm Lukas was a mystery to him. Tino and Emil had been watching them for a while but when Mathias didn't have any luck, Tino sighed.

"Please Ber? Right now it's the best idea we have" Tino looked at him pleadingly which made Berwald torn between his will of making Tino happy and his instinct of not letting Mathias win even an argument.

"Fine" He stuck out his tongue towards Mathias before he walked towards the front door. They saw him slowly struggle to get up the few stairs just outside the door. Berwald knocked on the door and it took a few minutes but they saw how the door slowly opened and how Lukas looked outside, still suspicious of basically everything.

"Hi, uhm, we'd like to talk to you if that is okay?" The others saw how Lukas looked down and gasped when he saw the small child looking up at him. All of the tension disappeared from Lukas body and he crouched down to look him in the eye. A bomb could go off right at that moment without Lukas noticing. He reached out a hand and pinched one of Berwalds cheeks and when he felt it's softness he let out a small squeak.

"You weren't kidding, he is adorable. Lukas is completely charmed" Emil looked at the others that chuckled before he turned towards the door again. Then they saw how Lukas picked Berwald up, went back inside and locked the door again. "Maybe a bit too adorable" They flew up from the ground and stared each other.

"Did Berwald just get kidnapped by Lukas?"

"I think calling it kidnapped might be a bit harsh but, yes" Tino looked over at Mathias and added "Well we got one person on the inside at least" Emil felt like he was getting a headache. This was all just getting weirder by the minute and he felt like laughing at the same time.

"What do we do?" Mathias was rubbing his temples trying to figure something out. He knew that Berwald wasn't actually in any danger and that Lukas would probably just stare at him for a while now, which might be a bit creepy for Berwald but he would have to bear with it.

"We should wait for a while and see what happens" Emil turned towards the others "Berwald might still be able to do this" The other nodded, they had reached the same conclusion, and they sat down in the grass to wait.

Inside the house, Berwald tried to not freak out as Lukas was staring at him while he would randomly pinch his cheek now and then. "Ehm, do you think the others could come in too?" Lukas frowned a bit but he seemed like he was considering it. Berwald put out his lower lip and tried to look pleading before he added "Please?" Lukas closed his eyes in an attempt to clear his thoughts and when he opened them again he nodded.

"Okay, fine. Just… Do one little thing for me?" Lukas stood up and waited for an answer.

"Okay?" Berwald agreed and saw how Lukas disappeared up the staircase. He considered just walking over to the door and unlock it but he realized that he would lose the trust he had somehow built up. Instead he waited to see what it was Lukas wanted him to do, it couldn't be that bad could it? When Lukas came downstairs again holding a small sailor costume he immediately regretted not unlocking the door himself.

.

"Why did you all have to come?" Arthur glared at the others as the plane started descending. Alfred had been asleep most of the way and Francis was currently sipping on some wine while Matthew was sitting in a small basket covering his ears against the loud noise. "And how did you sneak him in?" he added as he looked at the small cat.

"I have my ways" Francis winked and giggled at Arthurs blush as the grumpy man leaned back in his chair. The flight was almost over and he hoped that he would get some research done tonight already. They heard how Alfred snored as he had most of the way and Arthur sighed.

"Well it seems he can still make some noise" Francis chuckled at the comment and looked out the window. He saw the ground get closer. The thud from the landing made Alfred wake up and look around still a bit disoriented. He rubbed his eyes and took out a small whiteboard he had found deep within a closet at Arthurs house.

"Are we there?" He wrote on it and stretched out his stiff body as he saw the others nod. Matthew was relieved, the sound had really been hurting his oversensitive ears. They finally got off the plane and received their bags before they went outside and was met by a chilly breeze. Cabs were lined up right outside so they got into the closest one and gave the driver their location.

"Oh, that's not too far away, only a 20 minute drive or so" The cabdriver said in a heavy Norwegian accent after taking a quick look on her map.

"Well that's good since were a bit in a hurry" Francis that sat in the front seat smiled towards the cabdriver that suddenly looked really serious.

"I'll get you there in 13 minutes" Without checking the rearview mirrors she pushed the pedal down as far as it could go and rocketed out into the road. Alfred had managed to grab hold onto Matthew at the last moment and Arthur felt himself get thrown around in the backseat. Francis managed to look back at the others and his face said what they were all thinking. They weren't really surprised considering their luck but they had indeed ended up with a really crazy cabdriver. After 9 minutes and 24 seconds they skidded onto Lukas lawn causing dirt to fly everywhere and three people to quickly jump up from the grass.

"What the?" Tino said just as the nations stumbled out of the cab. Francis payed and thanked the driver and they saw how the cab carefully turned around and drove back the road without any hurry. Alfred looked green and was trying hard not to throw up while he still held the trembling Matthew in his hands. Arthur looked like he was fighting hard to not start screaming random swearwords while Francis just tried not to laugh at their whole situation. "Do I even want to know?"

"Let's just say it's been a long day" Arthur looked around "Why are you standing outside?"

"Well…" When Emil had once again told the story of the day that had passed, as well as added the recent events, the nations was quietly thinking things through.

"How long have you been waiting?" Francis asked thinking that maybe it was time to think of another plan.

"Only about 20 minutes or so."

"Can't we just brake through a window?" Alfred wrote on his whiteboard and was rewarded by a smack in the back of his head.

"We can at least try to look inside to see what's going on" Mathias sighed. It had been quiet inside of that house for far too long and they needed to act soon. They slowly made their way towards the front porch to try and look through the window right next to the door. Just as they were taking their first steps up the stairs they heard how the lock on the door turned and Lukas carefully looked outside. When he saw the extra people outside he quickly retreated back inside and locked the door again. They were now close enough to hear the two nations talking inside.

"You promised to let them in"

"Yes but there's even more people outside."

"We had a deal"

"But…"

"Then I guess I'll just take off-"

"Fine, I'll let them in" Once again they heard the door unlock and saw how Lukas opened. "If you try something I'll kick you out" They followed him into the living room where Berwald was sitting on the couch and when they say him they let out an audible gasp. He was dressed in a small blue and white sailor suit with a matching hat that had a small anchor pin nailed to it.

"One word Mathias, I warn you" Mathias had to bite himself hard in his tongue to not start laughing, he didn't think that he had ever seen anything so cute before and the threat only made him even more adorable. Emil was the only one in the room that looked terrified as he remembered that he was the one that had to wear that suit before. Arthur was the first one to break the silence that followed.

"Aha, I see" He walked over to Berwald and tried to ignore the glare he received from Lukas before he knelt so he got into eyelevel with him. "I don't think you just turned into a child you know" The confusion that filled the room was almost touchable.

 **A/N** Reviews are always appreciated and has actually made me pull over while driving to read them.


	10. Chapter 10: Explanations

**Chapter 10**

Explanations

"What are you doing?" Antonio saw how Lovino was picked up and placed on the couch. Without answering, his shadow placed one finger on Lovinos forehead and closed his eyes. After focusing for a second, the finger started glowing. Slowly he moved it in small circles and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Stop it!" Antonio noticed that Lovino was breathing faster and faster and his hands unconsciously gripped the fabric of the couch. Whatever it was doing, it seemed to be painful.

"This was weird" His shadow mumbled as he moved the finger away. He opened his eyes and carefully lifted Lovino so he could sit down on the couch and place him in his lap. Still deeply lost in thought he petted Lovinos hair, twirling it around his fingers before he pulled out a few loose strands. "I thought it would be easy…"

"What did you do to him?" His body looked at him, surprised by the sudden anger and despise in his voice. His shadow grinned at him and picked up Lovinos wrist to place a gentle kiss on it before he kept going up along the arm to stop right above the unconscious boys mouth. Antonio had stopped breathing and didn't realize he was quietly repeating "Stop" over and over again. His shadow suddenly gave off a soft giggle that made Antonio feel chills up his spine.

"That would have been fun would it" Antonio saw how his body stood up and placed Lovino back on the couch before he walked right up to him, slammed a fist right next to Antonios face on the wall and whispered. "I'm only preparing right now. There's no need for us to hurry, I won't hurt him yet" The shadow backed off and walked around the room. He picked up Lovinos cellphone and read the text that had been sent out to all the nations telling them what had happened and to check up on their closest friends and family out loud. Giggling, he put the phone back where he had found it. "Aww isn't that cute? Lovino sees you as a friend or maybe even family!"

"What do you mean by 'I won't hurt him yet'?" Antonio felt cold and he felt his mind drift away in an attempt to escape reality. He forced himself back only to be answered with a chuckle that didn't explain anything but at the same time, everything.

"Well this text explains a lot actually" His body moved around, unable to sit still. "Do you understand how I could do this? Or why I could now but not before?" He laughed again when he saw how Antonio shook his head. "I guess there's no harm in explaining while we wait for him to wake up" He sat down on the floor and yawned to show how boring and stupid he found this conversation. "I haven't been able to touch you before because you weren't able to use magic, but because of this spell, now you are" He laid down on the hard floor and looked up on the roof. Antonio felt himself get dragged down as well to mimic most of his movement. "Most magicians would be able to defend themselves but you didn't know about the magic, meaning that…" he snapped his fingers, easily creating a small blue flame "…I easily defeated you and now got the magic and know how to use it".

"That doesn't matter" The confused stare he received made Antonio shiver but he continued. "What did you do to Lovi?" With a big smile, his body sat up again.

"So you care about him THAT much?" He walked back to the boy and sat down, placing him the same way he had before. "I just changed around in his memory for a bit, though it was harder than I thought" He got lost in thoughts again but returned pretty fast "Some people might be able to hear you if they touch you so to make sure that won't happen I erased some parts of his memory." Smiling, his shadow ran his hand through Lovinos hair again before he put a hand on his chest, right above his heart.

"What did you-"

"When he wakes up he will only remember touching you, touching my shadow, and feeling a lot of pain before passing out. I'll be the good guy and you'll be the bad" His laughter echoed through the house.

.

After flipping through one of the many books he brought, Arthur finally nodded. "Yes, it's just as I thought" The others gathered around and listened carefully. Arthur that wasn't used to such a big audience of people that were actually listening cleared his throat nervously. "Berwalds spell is an attack spell"

"An attack spell?" Tino asked a bit confused. Arthur realized it would be easier to explain everything from the beginning.

"Okay, so spells are divided into three categories, they all have subcategories but we'll skip that for now. They are: 'Attack spells' which you use to attack your enemy, 'Defense Spells' which you use to defend yourself from attacks and 'Neutral spells' which is used mainly for science or party tricks." He looked over at Francis "Or to mess with people."

"But how is Berwalds spell an attack spell?" Mathias asked, very confused. He didn't see how turning into a child would have any advantages in a fight. Arthur sighed and shifted positions.

"As I said, his spell isn't only turning into a child. It also turns him incredibly adorable making you feel compelled to help and protect him. You can all feel it right?" They all nodded thoughtfully causing Berwald to blush which made the others look at him. "As you can see, he also attracts attention from the people around him."

"I still don't get how this is an attack spell?" Mathias sighed. He didn't like to not understand. Arthur rubbed his temples in an attempt to think of an easy way to explain this.

"What if you saw Berwald just standing there crying? What would you do?" He looked around at the others before Emil gave the obvious answer.

"We would go over there and comfort him" Mathias started to see how this all worked just as Arthur nodded.

"And when you do he would easily be able to catch you off guard and stab you right in the heart. Then while you die you will still forgive him. He is only a child after all." The terror showing on the nations faces was nothing compared to Berwalds. He stood up and walked outside where he laid down on the grass and took a few deep breaths. The others had frozen in place and felt a chill down their spines as Arthur added "But that's not all"

"There's more!?" Tino sighed, This was not good at all.

"The spell will only get stronger and stronger. Since you guys have been spending a lot of time with him you'll be fine but if he meets anyone new and the spell has grown too strong they will be drawn to him, like hypnotized. A group of people all trying to protect a single child can easily hurt the child in the process" Arthur met their eyes one by one so they would realize the seriousness in the situation. Mathias had to sit down for a moment while Tino had to walk around to keep calm. Emil leaned against the wall and tried to breathe normally.

"We just have to protect him then." All eyes were turned towards Lukas that was eyeing them a bit less suspicious than before. Mathias stared at him.

"I think that's the first sane thing you said in a while"

"Shut up"

They were interrupted when Berwald came back inside. "Let's move on" he said and pointed towards a door. "You wanted to see the room right?" Happy about the distraction Mathias stood up and walked over. Arthur nodded and followed him into the room and was delighted to see that it was completely untouched.

"Well I guess I'll go start dinner then" Tino hurried off so he wouldn't be in their way.

"I'll help you" Francis followed with Alfred still carrying Matthew walking right behind. Arthur walked into the room and saw how papers and books had spread over the floor. A circle of candles was present in the middle of the room and he saw that something was drawn on the floor. He hurried over and moved a few loose sheets of paper. The others saw how he carefully traced the circle and heard how he mumbled when he read the letters.

"We're lucky that Arthur's still sane." Emil whispered so he wouldn't disturb the focused nation. He noticed how Lukas carefully walked up behind him. He looked a bit confused but it seemed like he finally trusted them, even if it was only a little bit. He heard Arthur gasp and saw how he stood up and stumbled out of the circle. He turned around and stared at Lukas that took a step back because of the intensity in his eyes.

"Are you some kind of genius?"

 **A/N** Thank you for reading this far! I appreciate all favs/alerts/reviews and treasure them with all my hearth! A question some of you have asked is if I'll write about any more nations and the answer is yes. I'll include the most popular nations and probably a few others too! Remember, there's a world meeting soon!


	11. Chapter 11: Dog and Cat

**Chapter 11**

Dog and Cat

"What's going on?" Emil looked around at the others. They hadn't gotten an explanation from Arthur that only shoved them out the door and told them he needed to double and triple check the circle. They had been waiting for about five minutes outside the now locked door. Lukas had sat down on the couch with Berwald and was running his fingers through his hair. Berwald looked like he was slowly nodding off while questioning why he suddenly was so tired.

"Let him take his time" Mathias shook his head. Arthur had figured something out, something important, so now wasn't the best time to disturb him. He looked at the couch where it looked like Berwald was taking a nap while Lukas seemed like he had decided to ignore them for now. "Let's go see if they need any help in the kitchen" Emil nodded and followed Mathias.

"…and then you do this and this" When they entered they saw how Francis was explaining something about preparing fish while Tino listened carefully. Alfred sat at the table and looked incredibly bored while he seemed to play something on his phone. Matthew was sitting on the kitchen table, unsure about what to do. A sudden smell reached Mathias and he looked around, a bit confused. The smell made him feel something he had never felt before and he couldn't say exactly what it was. It didn't seem like anyone else was noticing it either. Suddenly he locked eyes with Matthew that rose to his feet with a chill traveling down his spine. Mathias felt his eyes get foggy and his mind drifting off, somewhere he could hear a faint growling sound. Matthew stared at Mathias and he felt his whole body tense. He knew that Mathias wasn't actually dangerous but something within him told him to be prepared and when he heard the small growl from the nation before him he knew that he was right.

"Mathias, are you okay?" When Emil didn't get any answer he tried waving a hand in front of his eyes but didn't get any reaction and he backed away when he noticed that they were glazed, as if Mathias wasn't there anymore. "Uhm, guys?" Francis and Tino turned around smiling.

"Yes?" Tino froze when he saw the look on Mathias face. "What's going on?" When Mathias took a step forward, causing Matthew to tense even more, Francis was suddenly between them. He lifted a hand and delivered a hard slap on Mathias cheek which made him take a step back.

"What are you doing?" Emil rushed to Mathias side while Tino stared at Francis. Alfred was looking up from his phone confused and Matthew still had his guard up. Mathias looked up at Francis, his eyes were clear again and a red handprint was slowly forming on his face.

"Thanks" He said to Francis before he rushed outside. He kept running even when he reached the forest and only stopped when he felt he had enough distance between himself and the house. His mind was slowly getting clear again and he was trying to make sense of this. He knew he would have attacked Matthew if Francis hadn't stepped in and he knew that he could have really hurt him. He sat down on the hard ground and rested his head against the tree. He took deep breaths and realized how much of the forest he hadn't been able to smell before. It comforted him, the smell of the moss mixed with dirt and water. He felt the smell off cool air with a hint of rotting leaves and the smell of a squirrel somewhere above him. He closed his eyes and focused when he felt himself get tense at that last thought, this was not good at all.

"Mathias? Where are you?" He heard Emils voice, it wasn't too far away. He wiped the tears he hadn't noticed before and stood up. "Francis explained, it's not your fault!"

"Here" he answered, curious and worried about what Francis apparently knew about him. He heard how Emil made his way through the forest and saw him as he stumbled through a few bushes. "What did he say?" Emil brushed away a few leaves and flinched when he noticed a spider amongst them. He sighed and looked at Mathias.

"Apparently, if you use your spell too long, your instincts might take over. That's probably what happened" Mathias rubbed his cheek thoughtfully before he turned around.

"Then it might be for the best if I just stay out here until this is over" Emil shook his head and took a hold of the tall nations arm to try to pull him towards the house.

"Don't be silly, we still need you" Emil didn't understand how much those words meant to Mathias and was truly confused when Mathias quickly turned around and gave him a big hug, even lifted him from the ground. "What are you doing?! Stop!" Laughing, he put him down and wiped the tears that formed out of so many emotions in play at the same time. Emil was slightly concerned that Mathias was losing his mind but decided to just drag him through the forest for now. "We should hurry back, I think dinner isn't too far away, besides…" Mathias got curious when Emil smiled slightly.

"Besides what?"

"You don't want to miss out on Berwald sucking his thumb in his sleep" Their speed increased and Mathias chuckled. When this was all over he knew that Berwald would be hearing about it for ages.

.

"Are you okay?" Lovinos head was pounding when he opened his eyes and was met by Antonios worried ones. The room was dark, apparently he had turned off all the lights again, and Lovino noticed that he was sitting in Antonios lap.

"WHAT ARE YOU-" he quickly stood up, which caused his head to spin, and took deep breaths. He thought that he should be panicking but felt strangely calm. He thought back on what he remembered. He had touched the shadow on the wall and felt a sharp pain that started on his forehead and then spread throughout his body. He looked at Antonio that still seemed worried. "Did the shadow do something?"

"I think so, this is all my fault, I'm so sorry" Antonio walked up to him and tried to give him a hug but Lovino easily avoided him. Lovino shook his head in confusin when he didn't get furious and yell or panic, he sat down again to think this through for a moment. He could feel that something was off but he didn't know what. Was it about him or Antonio? He glanced at Antonio that looked at him pleadingly to try and ask for forgiveness, which was normal, so he shook that thought out of his head. It was something about himself then. Without a word he stood up and walked towards the front door with Antonio following right behind. "You leaving?"

"Yes, for now. I need to think." He glanced back and met Antonios teary eyes and sighed "It's fine you know"

"Stay safe" He didn't look back when he left the house but he could feel Antonio look at him for as long as he could and for some reason it sent chills down his spine. It took him a few hours to get home, but when he did he immediately walked down a staircase to the big old library that had been there for ages. He rarely used it but right now he felt strangely drawn to it and he quickly made his way through the room as if he knew exactly which book to look for. Lovino took out a few books from the shelves which caused a cloud of dust to fly out. Before placing the books on the small table in the corner of the room he took out a small chair that he placed in front of it.

"What?" he said as he opened the first book which was filled with pictures of people suffering from pain and he felt sick when he noticed that it was a history book. He closed it and continued with the next one while he wondered if he had been this systematic before. The next book was old and filled with different kinds of plants and herbs which could be used both in rituals and medicine. Confused, he continued to the last one. When he opened it he noticed that it was filled with different kinds of math formulas and that didn't help him in any way. Frustrated, he closed the last book and threw it on the pile. Why had he chosen these three specifically and why had it felt so right? Once again he opened the first book, convinced that at least one of these books would give his mind some rest.

He though back on the day that had went by. When he had woken up he had immediately called Feliciano and traveled to Ludwigs house to meet him. After seeing the thing that was now Feliciano and calmed him down he received the text and traveled to Antonio when he wouldn't pick up his phone. There he passed out after touching his shadow and left shortly after waking up. Lovino flipped through the pages thoughtfully when he suddenly realized what was off. He had made sure that the others were okay first before thinking of himself. He had been calm and rational all the time and worst of all, he hadn't insulted a single person that day. Not even Ludwig. His headache grew worse so he decided to go and sleep for a while and hopefully he would be back to normal when he woke up.


	12. Chapter 12: Mashing it up

**Chapter 12**

Mashing it up

Mathias and Emil came back to the house at the same time Arthur exited the study. They felt the smell of fish throughout the house and they were met by Francis coming out of the kitchen. "Well, dinner is now ready!" He exclaimed when he saw the others. Arthur was still deeply lost in thought and walked into the kitchen without a word to the others. Francis sighed at him and turned towards Mathias. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, thanks" he rubbed his cheek without thinking about it. "I'll eat in here, can you tell Matthew that I'm sorry?" Francis nodded.

"I'll tell him, you should go get the other two. I think they're both still asleep." Mathias and Emil walked into the living were they saw Berwald curled into a ball sleeping with his head in Lukas lap. Lukas himself was resting his cheek in his hand with his elbow securely placed on the armrest while quiet snores escaped him. Mathias noticed a flash as Emil took a picture which woke the sleeping child. Before he was fully awake Mathias looked at Emil.

"You'll never let them forget this, will you?"

"Never" Mathias chuckled and walked over to the still sleeping nation, passing Berwald that was trying to wake up. Careful to not wake him up, Mathias crouched next to Lukas and very slowly put two fingers over his nose and squeezed, effectively stopping his breathing. It didn't take many seconds before Lukas flew up from the couch and turned around.

"Dammit Mathias! I've told you to stop doing that!" There was a silence that filled the room before Lukas took a stumbling step backwards while he held both his hands over his head. Mathias was quickly up and grabbed him by his arms.

"You remembered" Mathias tried to look Lukas in his eyes but was only met with confusion. Emil slowly made his way over just to hear Lukas answer.

"I don't know…I didn't…I can't…" He stumbled over the words and torn himself out of Mathias grip. He turned his back towards them as fast images flew through his mind, images that he couldn't make any sense out of. He fell down on his knees and whispered "Stop…I don't want…Leave me alone…" Emil couldn't take it anymore, he had never seen his brother panic like this before and he felt like it wasn't right. He ran over to him and took his hands before he forced him to look into his eyes.

"Pull yourself together!" Lukas looked at him and tried to focus "You're always so strong, you've always kept me safe, I can't see you like this" He wiped a few tears that had formed in his eyes before he added "You're my big brother!" Emil saw how Lukas eyes got glazed as he fell backwards and even more images filled his head. The images only showed for a fraction of a second but Lukas could make out small glimpses of it. A small child crawling towards him, the same child taking his first steps and then, a little bit older, the child is sitting at a table sticking out his tongue. The images continued to rush through his head even when he fell unconscious.

"What's going on?" Arthur had hurried back when he heard the upset voices from the other room.

"I don't know! He just suddenly remembered things and then passed out!" Mathias was panicking a little when Arthur hurried through the room with a worried expression.

"Let's put him on the couch" Together, they managed to lift him to the couch and after a quick check up Arthur decided that he wasn't in any actual danger. They all sighed in relief and Arthur looked around at them. "I guess it's time to explain what I found in that room"

"Yes, please" Arthur sat down and tried to figure out how to explain this and decided to once again start from the beginning. The rest of the nations came back from the kitchen just in time when Arthur begun talking.

"When we use magic we have to use a lot of our own energy to perform it. If the spell is too strong or if we run out of energy the spell will instead start draining our life force." He closed his fists thightly, obviously remembering something from his past. "A long time ago, when magic was believed in, our energy wasn't drained so fast and we could easily use many large spells in a row but" He shook his head "It's not like that anymore."

"But, what about Lukas?" Emil swallowed, this didn't sound good.

"Yes, Lukas." Arthur nodded towards the couch "He was indeed very powerful but this was even before you existed" He looked at Emil but turned around when he heard a chuckle behind him.

"That was good times, wasn't it Ber?" Mathias looked at Berwald that didn't seem as excited.

"He always set the boats I built on fire"

"That's because all of your boats would sink and they still do, remember last summer? You should just stick with furniture" Mathias giggled while Berwald pouted before they both looked at Arthur and waited for him to continue.

"You might have figured out that spells doesn't just come from nowhere, they are invented but there hasn't been any new spells invented in hundreds of years." He stood up and waved to the others to follow. "Until now" They entered the study were they could see Arthurs notes mixed along with Lukas. He walked up to the symbol and pointed towards it. There were circles within circles and in the spaces between them they could see small symbols written. "Each of these symbols represents a spell, look here." He pointed at the space between the two smallest circles, that were in the very middle, were they could see only two symbols. "This one is Mathias spell and this one is Emils spell. Then in the next circle we can find both Berwalds and Tinos, plus multiple others. I believe that the people closest to Lukas are in the most inner circles." He looked at the others and waited to see if they understood.

"But what does it do?" Arthur looked at Emil and continued.

"It uses all the spells written here and creates multiple layers of shields around a certain area. The spells are supposed to get mashed together and create a spell like no one I've ever seen before." His eyebrows furrowed and he crouched down. "Theoretically, it would have worked and when I look at the notes I can see that he checked the calculations multiple times. I'm not sure what went wrong"

"But how do we break it?" Mathias felt guilty, what if it would have worked if he didn't interrupt? He shook his head, he had already went through this in his head enough times. He had done the right thing.

"That's the problem" Arthur stood up. "To erase this, we'll have to break the spells one by one, starting with the ones in the outer circle and then work our way in" Arthur saw how the others slowly realized.

"There's hundreds of symbols there! It'll take ages!" Tino started pacing through the room and returned to his old habit of biting his thumb nail.

"I know" Arthur sighed "That's why we should have the world meeting tomorrow already and have everyone send me their symptoms so I can find who to help first and send some of them to Romania" The others saw how he stumbled a bit and yawned "I'll just figure out the details and then…" Francis caught him before he could hit the floor.

"I think you should go sleep now" The exhaustion was finally catching up with him as he looked at Francis.

"I don't need you damn help, you bloody wanker" He wasn't speaking clearly so Francis easily put Arthurs arm around his shoulders and carried him towards the guest room he had been assigned earlier.

"You don't have a saying in this" They heard the bickering continue as they walked up the stairs and the others chuckled. Tino smiled at the other nations.

"I guess we'll have to wait then, so let us all just enjoy our…" His smile faded as he remembered "…probably now cold dinner" Berwald tugged at Tinos pants and looked up at him.

"I'm sure it's still good" Tino couldn't help himself so he picked him up and gave him a big hug before he realized what he was doing and put him down, both of them blushing like crazy while the others made their way into the kitchen.

.

"I think he's waking up"

"Sssh don't ruin the moment, we've waited for so long!" Gilbert slowly opened his eyes and was met with a strong light coming from a lamp in the roof. While his eyes focused he wondered how he'd gotten there and where he actually was. He remembered walking along one of the more secluded beaches, which he did when he wanted to be alone for a while. It didn't happen very often, he enjoyed company, but everyone has those kinds of days. Then suddenly he was knocked down on the ground and was now waking up in this strange place with strange people and was his shirt missing? Gilbert had finally woken up completely and sat up, causing water to spill everywhere. He barely noticed the fact that he was sitting in a bathtub because of the five people right next to his face all holding notebooks, microphones or cameras.

"Do you understand us?" A girl with short brown hair asked, she seemed to be around 20 years old.

"What?" Gilbert didn't know what else to say even though hundreds of questions ran through his mind. He looked around the room. It was small and it seemed to be in a cellar of some sort. A big table was placed in the middle of the room and there were piles of books and notes placed on top. On the wall they seemed to have put up newspaper pages and old photographs with color coded strings running between them. It was like something you would see in a very old crime movie where the detective was creating a time line of the crime.

"He spoke!" The group of people looked very excited and started whispering to each other, giving Gilbert time to look down. His shirt was indeed gone for some reason and his legs felt weird so he moved his eyes to them.

"WHAT IS THIS?" Water flew as Gilbert gripped the edges of the tub and tried to lift himself but the group were already there, pushing him back down.

"Calm down, we do not wish to hurt you! We are friends!" Gilbert barley heard the soft voice as he kept looking at the fin that begun somewhere around his waist and continued for as long as his legs usually reached. Two of the people were standing not too far away taking pictures when one of them sighed.

"Mermen are even more incredible than I imagined"


	13. Chapter 13: Going for a walk?

**Chapter 13**

Going for a walk?

Dinner went by fast and when they all were finished Tino and Emil took care of the dishes. Mathias went to have a look at Lukas, Matthew had disappeared upstairs, Francis brought a plate of food up to Arthur while Alfred and Berwald walked outside. They both sat down on the front porch and sighed deeply. Berwald noticed how Alfred took out his whiteboard and started writing on it. "Pretty messed up right?"

"Mm" Berwald hummed for an answer and saw how Alfred stood up and erased his last message before he wrote the next.

"I'll go for a walk" As he started walking Berwald found it a bit strange that he would go out right now, it was getting pretty late after all, but he didn't give it much thought. Instead he made his way to a small shed were he knew Lukas kept his firewood. After finding a small sharp knife and picking up as much wood as he could carry, he made his way back to the porch were he sat down and started carving small wooden figures. Inside the kitchen, Tino and Emil could hear loud voices coming from upstairs.

"Are they arguing again?" Emil shook his head and Tino giggled.

"They remind me of Ber and Mathias during the old days" His smile faded and he looked over at Emil. "Speaking of Berwald, have you noticed anything different?"

"You mean apart from being a child?" Emil smiled a bit and looked down at the plate he was holding. "Well, there is the speech thing…" He flinched when he realized he had said it out loud.

"Emil…" Tino took a step towards him but he refused to look up from the plate. "What are you guys not telling me?" Tino was tired of not knowing, tired of them keeping secrets.

"I promised not to tell anyone…"

"Dammit Emil! It's me! I deserve to know this!" Emil took a step back when Tino raised his voice and made a decision. After checking outside the room to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them he made his way back.

"I overheard them once when they thought I had gone to bed. Lukas was trying to comfort Mathias but he wouldn't listen." Emil disappeared into the memory as he explained to Tino.

"It's been so many years Mathias" Lukas had been sitting in the very same couch he was now sleeping in while Mathias was pacing around the room. "Why bringing it up now?"

"I only make mistakes Lukas but that was one of my worst and no matter what either of you say it will never go away. The memories will randomly pop up whenever they feel like it!" Mathias kept pacing through the room, a bit faster than before.

"But it was your boss that-"

"Yes but I was the one fighting right? I was the one delivering the blows and now because of me he'll never be the same!" Emil had heard how Mathias sat down on the couch and it was one of the very few times that he heard him cry "He can't speak because of me." Emil couldn't stand hearing anymore so he had gone back to his room. The next day, when Mathias had left, Emil asked his brother about it.

"Apparently, it had been during one of their more violent fights. Mathias boss had ordered an attack and he didn't have any choice but to agree." Emil was back to reality and kept on explaining to Tino. "They both got terribly wounded during that fight but Berwald was worse off, he had received a head injury that couldn't get healed even though he's a country and the doctors during that time were not the best." Tino had sat down on a chair "It didn't get any worse than his speech getting a bit jumbled but it was permanent and I don't think Mathias has ever forgiven himself, even though Berwald did almost immediately"

"Why hasn't anyone told me?" Tino didn't understand at all "I could have helped"

"That's probably why." Emil sat down and sighed. "Lukas didn't feel like it was our thing to tell so I was forced to promise that I wouldn't and to Berwald this is all a thing from the past but…" He looked towards the hallway "Mathias probably knew that you would want to help, but he don't want any help. He thinks he's the one who needs to be strong and protect us all so if he asks for help, he thinks he would seem weak"

"That's ridiculous! Asking for help is the strongest thing to do! That means you're ready to get better and meet whatever it is you need to defeat!" Tino felt his anger build up so he took deep breaths to calm down again while Emil waited patiently.

"I know that but, he doesn't. Neither does he understand that no one blames him" Emil stood up and went back to putting the dishes in the dishwasher. "For anything"

In the living room Mathias was sitting next to Lukas with his eyes closed while he fought to hold back his tears. Not now, not now, why would it happen right now? He had heard the conversation in the kitchen thanks to his improved hearing. When he felt like he wouldn't be able to hold out any longer he rushed out the door and almost stumbled over Berwald that was sitting there. He saw a small pile of delicately carved wooden figures which he recognized as one of Berwalds ways of stress reliefs. "I'm going for a walk" Berwald nodded.

"Okay" Berwald tried not to notice how torn up Mathias looked but figured that it was just his worry about Lukas. He carefully carved the next figure, this one was going to become Emil. He had already made Mathias, Tino, Lukas and himself so Emil was the only one missing. Just as he was about to start on the face, Francis opened the door and almost stumbled over him.

"Oh hello" He looked around a bit confused before he added "I'm going for a walk"

"Sure" As Francis disappeared, Berwald had barley placed the knife towards the wood again before Tino opened the door and stumbled out. Surprised, he looked at Berwald.

"Ah, Ber! I'm just-"

"Going for a walk?" Berwald finished and Tino stared at him.

"How did you know?"

"It seems to be the new thing around here" Berwald put down the figure and looked at Tino that seemed a bit stressed out. "You want me to go with you?" It seemed like Tino considered it for a moment before he shook his head.

"No, another time, I need to think" Berwald only nodded and continued on his small figures. Tino felt relieved that Berwald didn't get hurt when he said no and he was already lost in thought when he reached the edge of the forest.

.

"So tell us, who are you and where do you live?" Gilbert had finally grasped the situation as he looked around at the group consisting of five people. They were all in their twenties and had apparently been searching for "his kind" since they were 11.

"But who are you?" He had realized that these people could not be completely sane so he was trying to drag out the time before they dissected him or something. One of the older looking boys slapped a hand on his forehead and looked devastated.

"How rude! How can he trust us if we don't even introduce ourselves properly! Everyone into positions!" The five people suddenly rushed around the room placing themselves in what they apparently thought were cool positions before the lights went off. With a soft click, a strong light lit up one of the two girls. She was standing on the table and exclaimed loudly.

"To protect and learn about the mysterious creatures that roams this world, five little kids decided to form a group. I'm Sarah!" The lights turned off and on again but was now shining towards a corner of the room where the tallest of the boys slowly walked towards him before he struck a pose.

"For the greater good of all the people, to give knowledge to the world, the children searched the beaches day after day. I'm Robin!" He slowly backed away from the light before it turned off and on again now showing them another one off the boys.

"I didn't mean-" Gilbert tried to interrupt but was instead interrupted himself by a small voice right behind him.

"Don't, they have practiced this for 5 years. Let them have it." He looked behind him and saw a young girl, probably around 13 years old standing there with her arms crossed and a bored look on her face just as the guy finished.

"I'm Liam!" The next person to be reviled was the brown haired girl from earlier.

"Without fear the children meet challenges every day and every night. They would laugh the bullies, right in their faces. I'm Michelle!" Gilbert didn't know what to think and he didn't know whether to laugh or quickly find a way to escape. He settled for something in between and gripped the edges of the bathtub ready to fight his way out of there. Somehow. The last one lit up right in front of him and slowly the others joined behind.

"All of the struggle and all the doubts we've met, that the children met, has finally paid off. Today we have the great honor of finally meeting each other, you have the great honor of meeting…" The lights suddenly turned on again and they struck an obviously choreographed pose before they all exclaimed together.

"Compass!" The last guy bowed to him and added.

"And I, am Simon" At that moment, Gilbert realized he couldn't escape. Not only because it was almost physically impossible but also because he felt that he could never crush these poor kids dreams. Lowering himself back into the tub he decided to answer their questions as well he could and hopefully they would let him out afterwards. Maybe he could even get some answers on what was going on with him so he looked at them one by one and cracked a smile.


	14. Chapter 14: COMPASS

**Chapter 14**

C.O.M.P.A.S.S

"That was a really awesome introduction!" Gilbert grinned at the group and their eyes lit up as if they just got the best gift in the world.

"It is, right? We have practiced for ages!" Sarah giggled but frowned when she suddenly noticed the girl right behind him. "Dani! I told you not to come down here!"

"You can't stop me Sis" She turned towards Gilbert and eyed him suspiciously. "I'm Daniella, but most people call me Dani, and Sarah here is my sister" Dani narrowed her eyes "You're not fake and just trying to mess with my Sis are you?"

"Eh, Uhm…" He couldn't say much more before Sarah lifted her sister from the ground and carried her upstairs. They heard their arguing voices slowly fade and Gilbert turned towards the rest of the group and tried to shift their focus. "So, Compass huh? Why did you choose that name?" He tried to keep the conversation focused on anything but himself for the moment, at least until he could come up with a good enough backstory.

"I'm glad you asked!" Simon chirped and pulled out a chair so he could sit down next to the tub. "It came to me in a dream years ago and I knew it was meant to be. It's actually an acronym for Creatures Of Mystery Protection And Science Squad. C.O.M.P.A.S.S!" Michelle held up a few loose papers on from the table where Gilbert could see rows after rows of words that were crossed over.

"Actually, we came up with it only a few days ago. It's hard finding a cool name with a cool acronym"

"Michelle, shush!" He shook his head and moved in a little closer. "Now then, over to the most important part. Who are you?" Gilbert hadn't come up with a story yet and had to quickly improvise. He started just as Sarah came back down to the basement.

"M…my name is Gilbert!" He wanted to kick himself for using his real name but realized that could be a bit hard since he didn't have any lags. "I am a merman from the wonderful underwater city of..uh… Mermadia! I was taken from my town by some bad peop…mermen but managed to escape. But I was wounded and fell unconscious so I was flushed up on the beach!" He paused and hoped that they would believe him.

"Mermadia huh…" Robin looked at the others. "I don't think I've heard of it"

"Ssh let him continue!" Sarah looked at him and Gilbert didn't know what else to say. There wasn't any more to the story. When he didn't say anything Sarah added "Why did the bad guys take you?"

"Eh well…" He tried to think fast and therefore he said the words that he would later regret "It's… It's because I'm a prince!" The silence that followed were deafening as the group froze, it seemed like the chock were a bit too much for them. Gilbert suddenly saw his chance "And that's why I have to get back fast!" He sat up a bit straighter in an attempt of looking important and the group were suddenly brought back to reality.

"Compass private meeting!" The group hurried into the corner of the room and started whispering to each other while throwing a few glances towards Gilbert. He could only hear a few sentences but it was enough for him to realize his mistake.

"…supposed to take him back tomorrow…"

"…prince…use him to…"

"…one week instead…"

"We're no criminals!" Michelle was shushed down again and the whispering continued even quieter so Gilbert couldn't hear a thing. But it was enough for him to figure out that they would have let him go tomorrow, probably after answering their questions, but now that they thought he was a prince they wanted to use it for their advantage. He knew trying to crawl his way out of there was impossible since he didn't seem to get left alone even for a minute and if a fight would break out he could hurt them by mistake.

"I'll figure it out" He said to himself, still pretty confident despite being in this situation.

.

Berwald had just finished his small wooden family when Alfred came back. "Hi" When he didn't get any answer Berwald looked up and noticed how Alfreds eyes looked glazed, as if he hadn't slept for days. "Are you okay?" Alfred looked at him and nodded before he walked into the house and Berwald figured that he was just tired, like they all were. He suddenly realized that since Lukas was unconscious, he could finally change back to his normal clothes. After cleaning up the mess he made he ran towards the door but stopped when he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He looked back across the yard but couldn't see anything and when the feeling of being watched didn't disappear he quickly backed into the house and closed the door. As he turned around he saw that Emil had just entered the hall.

"Where is everyone?" Emil looked around, the house had suddenly gotten so quiet.

"Out walking" Berwald passed him and went into the living room to start searching for his clothes. Where had Lukas put them?

"Oh" Emil sat down on a chair and felt a bit relieved. Something had been bugging him since Arthur had explained the spell but he couldn't exactly say what it was and with the current silence he might be able to figure it out. He thought back to what Arthur had said. A spell of multiple layers were the ones in the most inner circles would have their spells broken last. He and Mathias were almost in the center but… Emil suddenly realized. There hadn't been a symbol in the middle of the circle where he had assumed Lukas mark would be. He flew up from the chair and ran up the stairs towards Arthurs room. He didn't care if he woke him up, this was more important. When he threw open the door without even knocking the sight that met him made him first freeze in the doorway before he screaming for help ran inside.

.

"I still hasn't gotten over the fact that you call yourself Shade" Shade blushed and punched at the tree where Antonio were currently projected. "Still doesn't hurt" He didn't understand when this happened, he had only noticed that Antonio had gotten calmer and was now spending every minute of his time trying to annoy him but since when had he let it get to him? He looked back at the house were a small boy he didn't recognize was still carving small wooden figures. They had arrived in Norway a few hours ago, the plane ride had been horrible with Antonio slowly driving him insane, and they had then been standing there for about an hour. Shade had seen a bunch of nations leave the house but not the two that he needed to take care of. His mind was racing trying to think of a plan, but it didn't go well with Antonio distracting him all the time which was probably his intention. When he saw a familiar looking girl walk by, dangerously close to him, he suddenly saw the perfect solution. He hurried away through the forest and closed his eyes to sense where the rest of the nations were.

"There" He found the right person not very far from the house and when he came in close he walked slower so he wouldn't get noticed.

"What are you doing?" Antonio sounded worried and it made him smile. He knew that Antonio would hate this more than anything he had done this far, since he hadn't actually hurt anyone this far. Maybe he could finally turn things around so he could have the upper hand mentally again. He looked out from behind a big stone and saw how Alfred was closing in, completely lost in thought. He could almost feel how Antonio froze in place when he realized what was about to happen.

"Time to have some fun" Just as Alfred passed him he jumped out and grabbed his wrist before pulling him behind the stone. Shade quickly realized his mistake as Alfred easily ripped his hand out of the grip and grabbed his wrist before kicking him right behind his knee which forced him down on the ground. Shade heard Antonio hopefully gasp just before Alfred got up again as he realized who it was. Or, who he thought it was. It seemed like Alfred tried to say something but no words passed his lips. "You can't speak?" Alfred put his arms that he had been waving around down and nodded which caused Shade to grin. "That'll make things much easier." Before Alfred could react he was pinned to the stone.

"What will you do to him?" He heard Antonio ask but ignored it as he focused on the nation before him that had his eyes wide open, staring at him angrily as he realized that he was not the same as before, that this was not Antonio. Shade flinched when Alfred managed to slowly lift an arm from the rock, most nations wouldn't even be able to breathe under the pressure he was holding. He added more pressure until they were both panting, one because of exhaustion and one because he could barely breathe. Delighted that he finally won, Shade pushed his hand over Alfreds head and saw how his eyes slowly got glazed. Usually when you perform this spell the person would have time to call for help but Shade had been lucky all day. Everything was going according to plan. After about five minutes he backed off and let Alfred down again. When he landed, he stood swaying on the ground until Shade flicked his hand upwards which made him start walking towards the house again.

"I'll just borrow him for a while, to take care of a few things" He stumbled after Alfred while hidden in the forest with Antonio asking him to stop right behind. Shade felt how Antonios body was protesting, it wasn't used to magic and especially not the amount it had used recently. Shade felt that he was almost out of energy and decided that this was the last spell for a while. They were soon back at their hiding spot behind the trees and they saw how Alfred walked up the stairs were the small boy was still sitting. He said something to Alfred and with another flick of his wrist, Shade made Alfred nod before he entered the house and they saw how the boy furrowed his brows in confusion. He then shook his head, looked thoughtful for a moment before he got up and collected his things. Just as the boy was about to enter the house he suddenly stopped and turned around to look right at them. At the last second, Shade pulled back behind the tree again.

"You won't win this, you know that right?" He ignored Antonio again and saw how the boy opened the door and he noticed Emil coming into the hallway. Shade eyed him before the door closed. He was so young and small, so innocent, just the kind of person he would love to toy around with. He turned around and walked back into the forest thinking that he couldn't afford that luxury right now, especially with his energy so low. After about five minutes of walking, he heard the scream. It sent chills running up his spine and he wanted to hear more so badly. He slapped himself on the cheeks to focus and continued walking. Good things come to those who wait.


	15. Chapter 15: Losing control

**Chapter 15**

Losing Control

"Emil" Mathias ran fast, faster than he ever had before. He didn't notice the trees pass by him because he was running in panic, running towards the scream he had heard moments ago. Somewhere along the way, he passed Tino that was also running but he didn't stop. He saw the house after what felt like a decade but was only a minute and he flew through the door.

"Let go!" He could hear a struggle from upstairs so he rushed there, taking three steps at a time. He was in the corridor and saw that Arthurs door was open. "Stop!" He heard a loud crash and a whine just before Berwald came flying through the door into the wall on the other side. Mathias was there within seconds but Berwald shook his head and pointed inside the room.

"Stop him" As he turned around he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Alfred sat on top of Arthur with his hands around his throat. Alfred had marks along his arms from Arthurs now weak attempts to break free and Mathias saw how Arthur slowly turned blue. He grabbed one of Alfreds arms and pulled hard, but there was no change. Arthurs arms fell to his sides as he fell unconscious and Mathias knew he had to hurry. He backed a few steps before he leapt and crashed into Alfred with full force which made them both fly through the room. Mathias was up on his feet in no time with his focus on the nation before him. At the corner of his eye he could see Emil standing up, he had apparently been thrown through the room when he tried to help earlier.

"Watch him, I'll help Arthur" Emil hurried off and Mathias saw how Alfred stood up again. This was not good. Even though he would never admit it, Mathias knew that he wasn't as strong as the much younger nation. Not anymore at least. Alfred looked at him and Mathias saw how his eyes were completely empty just before he threw the first punch. Mathias avoided it easily and when the next attack came he avoided that too. He felt confused, the attacks were too simple and too straightforward, and when a kick came flying towards him he managed to catch it and threw Alfred to the ground.

"What's wrong with you?" Alfred stood up again and turned his attention towards the bed where Emil was taking care of Arthur with help from Berwald. When he started walking towards them Mathias took a hold of his wrist and pulled him back which made him stumble and almost fall again. "You're not getting past me" Mathias felt how the energy in the room suddenly changed when Alfred once again charged towards him. This time it was different, this time Alfred seemed to have a plan. Mathias tried to avoid him but Alfred was fast and managed to hit him in the side and they all heard the crack when a few ribs broke. He gasped from the pain but kept himself together and countered with a knee in Alfreds stomach. He backed away without his facial expression changing at all, it stayed as blank as it had throughout the whole fight. Mathias heard how Emil let out a relieved sigh.

"He's breathing" Mathias could hear the panting breaths and unfortunately, so did Alfred. He threw himself towards the bed but Mathias tackled him midair causing them both to land hard on the floor. Alfred struggled to get up again while Mathias felt how pain radiated throughout his body from the damage on his ribs. His vision got blurry but he could still see Alfred getting up once again so he stood and ignored it. Quickly he placed himself between Alfred and the bed, ready for the next attack. Just as they were about to throw the next punch it was as if the air between them electrified and they both flew in different directions, crashing into the wall.

"Mathias, how many times have I told you not to fight in my house?" Lukas stood in the doorway looking more worn out than any of them with his hands stretched out in front of him.

.

"So, here's the deal" Gilbert was lost in thought and was thinking about how fun it would be to see Ludwigs expression when he saw this new body when the group finally had come to a conclusion. "You stay with us for one week to answer our questions and then one more week to lure… I mean call your friends here so we can talk to them too."

"No, you don't understand, I have to get home" It wasn't actually a lie, Ludwig was probably really worried about him. It was not because he was freaking out or anything that he had to get out of there, of course not. At least, that's what Gilbert told himself. He tried to look Michelle in her eyes since she seemed to be the only one against this plan but she was deliberately looking away. He saw how Simon shook his head.

"We can't do that, this is our big chance to get ourselves known" He stood up and walked dramatically through the room where he picked up a very familiar black case from the ground and brought it over. "This is very important to you, right? We could barely separate you from it when we found you"

"Yes" Gilbert looked at the case and reached out for it. He had forgotten that he had brought it to the beach, his flute that was very dear to him. He had gotten it from Old Fritz and it was one of the few physical memories he still had left of him. Simon pulled it away just before Gilbert could grab it. "Give it to me"

"I will, If you agree to stay" Gilbert sank lower into the tub and considered his options. He could either refuse and still be forced to stay or agree, get his flute back, and be forced to stay that way. He sighed and figured that if he actually didn't have any choice he might as well try to lighten the mood a bit.

"Fine, but something feels a bit fishy about this" He received clueless looks from around the room. "You know…A bit FISHY" It was almost like Gilbert could see a physical switch click in their heads as they realized.

"Oh" came in unison from the group and they were quiet for a moment before Sarah started giggling. The others soon joined her and their laughter grew louder. Gilbert relaxed as the tension in the room disappeared but after a while he grew more and more uncomfortable.

"Hey, guys" A few of them were laying on the ground holding their hands over their bellies as tears ran down their faces "It wasn't that funny" the rest leaned towards the walls and tried to get themselves under control but it didn't go well. "You're scaring me" As the laughter continued Gilbert thought back on his life. He had lived long and there had been a lot of weird things that happened to him and he had met all kinds of people but this, this must be the weirdest thing this far.

.

"Where am I?" Everything was dark around him but Lovino could still feel the ground underneath his feet. He started running, he didn't know why but it felt like he was in a hurry. The ground suddenly opened underneath his feet and he fell, he fell for eternity and for seconds, until he stopped and floated two feet above the ground and he suddenly realized. "It's a dream".

"Lovi!" He heard a voice to his right and turned towards it. He was in a forest and the trees stood high and dark around him, they looked threatening. "Lovi!" Antonio was running towards him through the forest and when he closed in Lovino could see that his eyes were filled with panic. "Lovi run!" Lovino stayed put and Antonio was soon right by his side.

"Run from what?" Antonio grabbed him and pulled him close before he grinned creepily and whispered.

"From me" He dissolved into a dark fog that surrounded Lovino that started running, he had to get away. The fog disappeared and he heard the cracking of twigs as someone came walking through the forest. He saw how Alfred slowly made his way towards him but something was weird. His eyes looked glazed and when he got closer, Lovino could see the black fog slowly following him.

"Go away!" He fell through nothing once again and this time when he landed he could hear waves and feel sand underneath his fingers. He stood up and awaited the next danger. It wasn't as dark anymore and he could see the ocean spreading out. Suddenly, there was a break in the water and a creature jumped before it gracefully twisted in the air and dove back into the water. Lovino walked closer to try and get a look of what it was and the next time the creature breached the water he saw what, and who, it was. Gilbert made a small spin in the air which made the scales on his tail glow in the soft light before he disappeared into the deep again. Something tugged at his pants and when he looked down he saw a small boy with glasses wearing a child sized dress from old times.

"It's time to wake up" The boys words echoed in his head as Lovino sat up in his bed and panted heavily. This time it took him a while to calm down, he couldn't figure out the dream at all.

"That's it" He stood up and went over to the window to look out "I'm just slowly going insane"

 **A/N** Once again, thank you for reading this story!  
Jasmin: I really enjoy reading your reviews and I'm really going to miss them while you're gone!  
Marzue: The acronym took some time indeed but when I figured it out, I was really happy!


	16. Chapter 16: A win or a loss?

**Chapter 17**

A win or a loss?

Emil helped Arthur sit up as he slowly regained consciousness while he kept an eye on Alfred. If Lukas hadn't interrupted, things would have gotten really bad but he couldn't relax yet. Lukas walked across the room and crouched next to Alfred. Mathias tried to stand but Emil saw that he had trouble breathing and when he took a step towards Lukas he stumbled and fell. "Be careful, he's dangerous"

"No he's not" Arthur was finally back to reality and was looking at Lukas. "Something's controlling him" Emil gasped and looked at Alfred. Arthur was right, it didn't seem like the usually cheery and annoying American was in control of himself and Emil didn't believe that he could actually do something like this. "I have to break the connection" Arthur tried to stand up but Emil saw how he swayed and pushed him back surprisingly easily.

"You can't. Let them handle it" Arthur shook his head and tried to get up again.

"I can't. I didn't want to tell you this before but Lukas is almost completely drained of energy." He took a deep breath in an attempt to make his head stop spinning before he continued "That small shock he created before made him exhausted so breaking the connection might put him in danger" Emil looked at his brother that was slowly raising his hand towards Alfred.

"Lukas! Don't-"

"I already know" He placed a finger on Alfreds forehead and started drawing a symbol. "But I have to protect you" His finger started glowing "Both of you" He added and glanced back at Mathias. The light from his finger started shifting and spread out over Alfred that suddenly relaxed. "I might be a bit confused at the moment but there's two things I'm certain of" He lifted his hand and held it out above Alfred. "One: Mathias is a mess and will never ask for help, Two: Emil is my little brother and I need him to be safe. " Tino entered the room panting just as Lukas added "That's why I have to do this. I care."

"Don't!" Mathias tried to reach him but it was too late. Lukas lifted his hands just as the light started glowing brighter than ever before. They felt the energy radiate from the two nations and when the light faded they saw how Alfred was laying down on the ground while Lukas was standing on all four coughing. Emil was still sitting next to Arthur with a hand on his chest to stop him from standing while Berwald was already on his way towards Lukas. Tino ran over to Mathias.

"Are you okay? What's going on?" Tino crouched next to him but was met with a dismissive wave from his hand.

"Take care of Lukas" Tino hesitated but nodded and joined Berwald at Lukas side. "Lukas, are you okay?" he put a hand on Lukas that flinched and suddenly sat up before he backed away.

"Who was that?" Lukas looked around the room suspiciously.

"It's me! Tino!"

"Tino…" He looked thoughtful for a moment "It does sound familiar"

"Yes! You're remembering" Mathias sat up and managed to smile at Lukas while he rubbed the spot that Alfred had hit.

"Mathias? Is that you?" Mathias saw how Lukas turned his head towards him but something was off. He felt something within him build up, a feeling that something bad just had happened and when he looked Lukas in his eyes he realized. "Where are you? Why is it so dark?" Mathias looked up at the lamp in the roof that was shining brightly. He had often told Lukas that it wasn't necessary to buy such bright lamps but he had never listened. He fought against his tears as Lukas reached out a hand in front of him and tried to feel where he was. "Mathias?"

"I'm here" Mathias crawled over to Lukas that flinched once again as he felt Mathias taking his hand. "Here" He couldn't say anything. He couldn't tell Lukas that he was sorry for being weak. He couldn't tell Lukas thank you. He couldn't' tell Lukas that the lights were on.

"Yes" Lukas nodded and Mathias saw how Berwald walked up to them. He shook his head and took a deep breath to calm himself but it wasn't easy.

He couldn't tell Lukas that he'd gotten blind.

.

"Dammit" Shade stumbled and fell to the ground as the view of the room disappeared. He had been walking and kept an eye on the situation in the house at the same time but he wasn't happy with the result. Through Alfreds eyes he had seen how close it had been that he had gotten the Englishman taken care of. If Mathias hadn't gotten back so fast he could have taken care of them both. If he only could get Arthur and Lukas out of the way he could then head over to Vladimir and take care of him too, that way there shouldn't be anyone left that would actually be a threat. "What should I do?" He didn't realize he had said it out loud until Antonio let out a relieved sigh.

"So they're fine then" He looked over his shoulder as he felt his irritation build up and then took deep breaths. Getting angry now wouldn't lead anywhere so he decided to sit down and think through all he had seen in that house, maybe there was something useful there. After Mathias had tackled him off the bed, Shade had let Alfred fight on his own. He knew the attacks would be simple but figured that the nations strength would make up for it. He quickly realized his mistake when Mathias years of fighting was clearly showing so he took over Alfred body completely. He had almost won when Lukas entered the room and the shock he sent out paralyzed him for a moment. Then Lukas broke the connection.

"Wait a minute…" Shade suddenly grinned and stood up. He remembered what Arthur had said. Lukas was drained, he could barely create the shockwave, so he probably wasn't in any condition to fight right now. He knew he wouldn't be able to take care of Arthur since they would be suspisious about practically everything for a while and the rest of the nations would probably be warned as well. "Time to lay low for a while"

"To think of a new plan since this one failed?" Shade knew that Antonio was mocking him on purpose but he couldn't help himself.

"Shut up, you're in no position to speak like that" He started walking again so he would be able to get to Copenhagen in time. The meeting was tomorrow according to the text he'd gotten earlier and he wanted to leave as few tracks as possible so walking was the best option right now. "Let's go"

"Oh, aren't you tired? You seem exhausted." Shade closed and opened his fists multiple times to calm himself down while he tried to focus on walking. Shade knew he would have to live with him for a long time but he also knew that Antonio would lose his sanity after a few years. Just like he had. Antonio started humming on a song and Shade felt himself slowly go mad.

"SHUT UP" Flames emerged along his arms as he turned towards Antonio. He had finally snapped and all he could feel was rage. It grew even more when he heard Antonio chuckle.

"I thought you wouldn't use any more magic?" He suddenly realized. Antonio had been playing him all along. The realization made his anger grow even more and the flames grew brighter. He was losing control.

"Oh dammit" The world begun spinning and he put his hands over his head to make it stop but fell down on his knees when it wouldn't. The last of his energy was fading and the last thing he heard before he fell unconscious was a whisper.

"I think I just scored a point" Antonios light laugh followed him into his dreams.

.

The questions were endless and even though Gilbert had pretty good imagination he knew that it wasn't infinite and he noticed how he was slowly running out of ideas. They had only taken a break to eat, they served fish but Gilbert wasn't really surprised by anything anymore. He had at least gotten his flute back. He felt that his eyelids grew heavy as the evening came and fortunately the group noticed as well. "Oh! It seems like it has gotten really late, maybe we should continue tomorrow" The rest of the group yawned and nodded before they started rolling out mattresses on the floor. Of course they would be sleeping in here. Gilbert sighed, he was really tired but had to look for a chance to escape.

"Goodnight!" The lights went off and it became pitch black. Gilbert thought that if he just waited until they had all fallen asleep, he would be able to at least try to get out of there.

"One hour" He whispered quietly and yawned. He would wait one hour and then drag himself out of there. After 30 minutes he was already asleep, snoring quietly with the soft buzzing of an AC somewhere in the room.

"Watch out!" He woke up because of a scream and felt how he bounced around. His eyes finally focused and tried to figure out where he were. The first thing he saw was Dani looking at him. "Oh, you're awake" He felt how he bounced again and Dani turned her head and said in an angry voice "Sarah! Be more careful!"

"Sorry but I can't really do much, the road is full of holes!"

"Wait, what?" Gilbert looked around. He was in the backseat of a car together with Dani while Sarah sat in the front seat. "WAIT, WHAT?" He didn't understand how he had gotten there at all, he fell asleep in the basement and now he was sitting in a car with a pair of siblings that didn't seem to get along at all.

"Calm down, were almost there" Dani patted him on his arm and smiled. "We're going to take you home." She looked down at her hands "Both of us knows that COMPASS is crazy so we decided to form our own group." When he met her eyes he could see a passion he had only seen in Ludwigs eyes when he saw a dog. "Our goal is to protect creatures like you from being known, we believe that you are hidden for a reason." She climbed the seat and got up really close to his face before she added "We are the Mythical Allied Party, M.A.P!" Gilbert sighed in relief. These people would at least take him to the ocean and he could finally start making his way home somehow, they seemed sane.

"We're here" Sarah stopped the car and got out and after a bit of struggling they managed to get him out of the car. Gilbert looked around a bit confused, this wasn't the beach they were standing at the edge of a cliff!

"So, how do I get down there?" Gilbert pointed at the water and chuckled nervously. It was a 20 feet drop and he saw how the waves furiously smashed into the rocks. He looked around for a ladder or something but couldn't find any. Sarah looked confused for a moment.

"You jump of course."

"What?" Sarah sat down next to Gilbert and Dani sat down on his other side. They sighed in unison as they looked across the ocean were the sun was slowly rising.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Gilbert didn't really notice how the sunrays made the water shine and sparkle because he was still processing the fact that they expected him to jump off the cliff. Sarah patted him on his shoulder.

"We forgot your flute by the way" Gilbert put his hands together and took a few calming breaths. She shrugged and added "We were in a hurry since we didn't want to inhale any of the gas we knocked all of you guys out with" She looked at him "You're pretty heavy by the way, be thankful" Gilbert actually considered jumping of the cliff and then just hope that he would survive if it meant that he would finally get away from these people. Dani leaned against him.

"I'll put the flute at the beach where they found you, okay?" Gilbert nodded and Danis face lit up in a smile. Sarah stood up.

"Well we need to get back before the others wake up, come here Dani" She was suddenly behind him and grabbed him underneath his arms while Dani grabbed his tail. The carried him to the edge and Gilbert really questioned where they got this kind of strength from.

"One…"

"Wait are you actually going to-"

"Two…"

"Okay, can we talk about this for a second?

"Three!" The swung him and threw him over the edge. As he fell a thought suddenly crossed Gilberts mind.

"Oh, MAP against COMPASS. I get it" The cold water hit him and he immediately felt how a current grabbed hold of him while he automatically held his breath. He was dragged down underwater and tried his best to swim but he had never used a fin before. He couldn't fight it as another current grabbed hold of him and dragged him further into the sea. He couldn't hold his breath any longer so he gasped. Water filled his lungs but Gilbert still felt a relief from it so he took another breath underwater and realized that he could breathe fine. Thanks to this realization he managed to calm down enough to focus on his tail. He had seen "The Little Mermaid" many times and figured that he'd just try to move it like them. It took a while but he finally managed to get the hang of it and pushed himself out of the current. With a few quick flicks with his fin he was soon at the surface and when he came above the water he immediately looked around. He didn't see a single island or any land at all in any way. He sighed and started swimming in a random direction while he figured that he would meet land sooner or later if he just kept swimming.


	17. Chapter 17: Lost: Cats and Pie

**Chapter 17**

Lost: Cat and Pie

"His eyesight should return when his energy is fully regenerated, he was really lucky." Arthur flicked off the flashlight he had been using to check Lukas eyes. He looked around the room which was pretty much chaotic. A few shelves had fallen down where Emil was thrown into the wall, Alfred had been moved over to the bed and was sleeping peacefully while Berwald and Tino were treating Mathias wound. Emil sat next to him, obviously worried about his brother. Arthur moved his hands to his neck and felt how it still was sore.

"Are you okay?" Emil looked at Arthur and saw how bruises were already forming on his throat in the exact shape of Alfreds hands. He nodded and looked around the room at all the gathered nations.

"Listen, I don't want any of you to tell Alfred how close he was" The others blinked in confusion but when they saw the look on Arthurs face they nodded and decided to let him have his way. They heard how the door on the bottom floor opened.

"Hello?" They heard Francis worried voice from the downstairs.

"Up here" Steps came up the stairs and Emil saw how Arthur pulled up his collar to hide the bruises as well as he could. Francis rushed inside and when he saw the scene before him he got more questions than answers.

"What happened?" Just as he asked that question they heard a groan from the bed and saw how Alfred sat up. There was a moment of silence before everyone except Lukas and Mathias stood up and walked over to him. Francis was confused but it was not even close to Alfreds confusion. He looked around and met their eyes one by one before Arthur sat down next to him.

"Do you remember anything?" Alfred looked at Arthur before he thoughtfully leaned back against the wooden bedframe. Tino reached out a small notepad and a pen to help him and Alfred grabbed it with a thankful nod. He took a few moments before he started writing and then passed the notepad to Arthur.

"What does it say?" They heard from Mathias on the floor so Arthur cleared his throat and read out loud.

"I was taking a walk and then everything was dark but it felt like someone was there and then suddenly I woke up here." The message seemed a bit confused but Arthur nodded. "It's as I thought. Someone controlled him to do it." Alfreds eyes grew wide and he grabbed the notepad before he wrote angrily and passed the note to Arthur again. "What did I do?" Arthur read out loud and averted his eyes.

"I would like to know that too" Francis sat down on a chair next to the bed and waited patiently.

"Well…" Arthur begun and sighed. "You came in here while I was sleeping and attacked me but Mathias stopped you before you could do any actual damage" Mathias gave him a quick glance at the lie but decided to let it pass. He saw how Alfred leaned to the side to get a look at him and actually seemed quite worried.

"I'm fine! I'm still pretty strong you know!" Lukas poked him in his side which made him wince.

"Tell that to your broken ribs" Mathias rolled his eyes and laughed. He had lived through much worse wounds and knew that he would be healed again in just a few days. Alfred looked even more worried so Mathias gave him a dismissive wave and motioned for Arthur to continue.

"Then Lukas came in and broke the connection between you and whoever was controlling you." Arthur stood up and walked through the room. "I still don't know who could have done it." He jumped, a bit startled, when Alfred suddenly slammed a fist into the wall. He looked furious when he stood up and stormed out of the room. "You can't go out alone!" Alfred stopped and turned around before he walked to his own room. They could hear the sound of things breaking as Alfred took out his anger on the only things he could.

"It's fine" Lukas stood up as he heard the crashes and felt his way to the wall. "I don't think I have anything valuable there" He felt his way out of the room and started walking. "I'm tired so I'm going to bed"

"Let me help you" Mathias stood up and walked over but Lukas shook his head and kept walking.

"It's my house, I think I can handle it on my own." Mathias waited for a few seconds and after glancing at Emil that looked pretty worried he walked over to Lukas.

"But your room is the other way." Lukas stopped and was quiet for a while. Mathias could almost swear that he saw a faint blush on his cheeks before he turned around again.

"Fine. Take me there then" As the two nations passed the room again the remaining ones looked at each other. They heard another crash from the other room and Arthur shook his head.

"He really hates to lose a fight, doesn't he?" Arthur sat down on the bed again.

"You think that's why he's angry?" Arthur looked up at Francis that furiously walked towards him. "Sure, he hates to lose but this time his failure could have cost you your life. Even if you didn't get hurt he hates putting you in danger! You think he doesn't care but he does, he does!" Arthur backed away as well as he could.

"It doesn't seem like he cares" Francis sat down and sighed. How would he explain this to make the grumpy Englishman understand?

"But he does, he always has." Francis looked at him with a smile that quickly fell since Arthurs collar had slipped down again, revealing the bruises. When he noticed Francis stare, he quickly pulled it up again but it was too late. "Arthur, what happened?"

"Nothing"

"Stop this nonsense and tell me!"

"I think we should leave" Berwald and Tino nodded at Emil and the three of them carefully closed the door and snuck downstairs. Tino looked at the clock and yawned.

"It's really late, we should probably go to sleep since we'll need the energy tomorrow" He looked down at Berwald that was swaying where he stood while he fought his eyes that were closing on his own. Tino chuckled and picked him up which startled him before he gave Tino a questioning look. "You get tired more easily in this body, you can barely stand straight!" He walked towards the room the two of them were supposed to share before he glanced back at Emil. "Go get some sleep"

"Goodnight" Berwald mumbled, already half asleep.

"Night" Emil was suddenly alone. He could hear the two arguing nations in Arthurs room and he could still hear how things would break in Alfreds room. Mathias hadn't come down yet so he decided to just go to bed. As he walked towards the stairs again a thought suddenly came to mind. "I haven't seen Matthew in a while" He stopped and felt his face get pale "Not since before dinner" He rushed upstairs to ask the others if they knew anything while he prayed that the thing that had gotten Alfred hadn't gotten Matthew too.

.

He was a hunter of the night. Matthew snuck through the bushes while he followed the smell of a mouse that couldn't be far away. He had left the house hours ago to get some fresh air and clear his mind but somewhere along the way, his instincts took over. He wasn't Matthew anymore, he wasn't anybody. Only a dangerous predator hunting smaller creatures, at least that was how he saw himself right now. He felt another smell interrupt his track and started following that one instead but it only lead to a person laying down on the ground. If Matthew would have had his human mind at that moment, he might have recognized him and questioned why Antonio was laying unconscious in the middle of the Norwegian forest but instead he turned around and walked back the same way that he had walked before. If he was lucky, he could find that mouse track again.

He got pretty upset when he realized that the mouse had disappeared for good and to relieve his frustration, he ran. He almost flew through the forest and felt his body stretch, he was free. A new smell stopped him and he looked up. There, he could see a birds nest carefully placed on a big branch. The parents were there feeding their children but the cat on the ground knew that they wouldn't be a problem. Matthew backed a few steps before he jumped and clawed himself to the tree before he quickly made his way to the closest branch. Then he climbed to the next, jumped to another and carefully made his way up. He was only two branches below the nest but he would have to jump quite a distance to make it to the next one. His newly gained confidence made him carefully back up as far as he could before he leapt gracefully through the air. But not far enough. He managed to grab hold of the branch with his front claws and was hanging in the tree before he struggled until he had pulled himself up again.

'Where am I?' The shock of almost falling made Matthew regain his senses. He looked around and tried to figure out where he was. He only remembered leaving the house and then suddenly, he was here. Here up high in a tree. He felt himself tense as he looked down and saw the ground really far below him. Matthew stood up and looked for a way to climb down but when he didn't find one he sat down and realized the irony in his situation. He was a cat stuck in a tree. Maybe he would have found it funny if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't know when or if he would be found and saved.

.

"So, no one has seen him?" Emil sat in the living room with Francis, Alfred, Mathias and Tino. The remaining three had been forced to stay in bed and rest. They had tried to make Alfred stay too but he refused and no one really wanted to argue with him when he was pissed like this.

"No, how could we forget about him?" Tino rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. It was almost midnight and they were all really tired. "And how can we find him?"

"I guess we just go out and start looking" Francis stood up and walked towards the door. Mathias shook his head.

"I'll stay here, we can't leave these guys alone" Mathias leaned back and stretched. "Don't worry, I won't fall asleep" Tino suddenly got an idea.

"What if…" He hesitated for a moment before he turned towards Mathias "What if we use your nose to find him?" The nations looked confused for a moment before they realized.

"Yes that might just work"

"No, no, if we do that I'll just hurt him" Mathias looked down on the ground and sighed. The plan was good but he didn't know if he would be able to control himself or not. Tino looked thoughtful for a moment before he light up in a smile and pointed towards the door.

"Meet me outside in five minutes!" He hurried away into the house while the others looked at each other and shrugged before they walked outside into the cool night air. It took a bit longer than five minutes but Tino finally made his way outside. In his hands he had a rope that he held up to the others. "If we tied this around Mathias waist, we can stop him from hurting Matthew when we find him!" Tino was obviously very happy that he had found a solution and since the plan actually wasn't too bad, they agreed. Emil walked up the stairs towards the front door and sat down.

"Then I'll stay here to keep an eye on these guys" Emil saw how Mathias narrowed his eyes, he obviously didn't like that idea. Emil pouted at him "I can handle it." Mathias still didn't seem at ease but he nodded carefully. Francis ran into the house and came back outside with a blanket.

"Matthew slept on this on our way here so use this" He gave it to Mathias that sighed and took a deep breath into the blanket. He dropped it on the ground and looked around.

"Guys, I don't think this will work-" The smell from the blanket suddenly hit him and he could feel it, the same one that trailed into the forest. It was so clear, it was almost ass if he could see the track that would lead him to Matthew. He noticed how the scenery went foggy and he tried to fight his way back to reality but it was too late.

"Mathias! Wait!" Tino grabbed the end of the rope and tried to make Mathias slow down. "Stop!"

"It's no use, he's already lost. Let's just follow him." Francis had also grabbed the rope with Alfred close behind and together they slowly made their way through the forest. Emil saw them leave and sighed before he stood up and walked back into the house. Once again it was quiet and he wasn't sure of what to do so he decided to do a quick check up on the other people in the house. He begun with Berwald. Slowly, he opened the bedroom door and looked inside. He saw the small bundle that was laying all curled up on the right side of the bed. He was just about to close the door when he heard a small voice.

"Give it back" Emil saw how Berwald turned around in the bed and wondered if he had noticed him. He snuck closer and when he was right next to the bed he saw that he was still asleep, just sleep talking.

"Give what back?" Emil was curious about what Berwald could be dreaming about.

"My pie" Emil had to cover his mouth and slowly back out of the room to not burst out laughing. Just as he left the room he heard how Berwald turned around again and mumbled "Damn Mathias, Always stealing my pie." Emil closed the door and stumbled towards the stairs were he sat down and burst out into giggles.


	18. Chapter 18: Cats, Breakfasts and Dresses

**Chapter 18**

Cats, Breakfasts and Dresses

"Up there?" Tino looked at Mathias questioningly after he stopped in front of a big tree to look up. This far, they had been dragged through the forest without stopping which probably meant that Matthew was somewhere above them. "Hold tight" Tino looked at the others and let go of the rope before he headed closer to the tree. He looked Mathias in his eyes but couldn't see anything of the nation left, only an eager instinct to catch whatever was above him. "I'm going up then" Just as he was about to start climbing, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Alfred shook his head and pointed at himself. "Are you sure?" Tino had barely asked the question before Alfred had already started climbing.

"Just let him do it and help me here" Francis was struggling with keeping Mathias under control so Tino hurried back and grabbed the rope. Together they managed to pull him away from the tree before they tied him to another one and sat down. Then they waited.

Alfred pulled himself up and felt how his anger finally vanished, instead he decided to be extreamly helpful from now on. He had to make it up somehow and he knew that he could. He was Alfred, he was America! Of course he could solve this!

"Meow" He suddenly heard the cat just above him and looked up. There, sitting on a branch, he could see his brother that looked down on him while waiting. The distance between them wasn't so far but it was too far for him to reach. How Matthew had gotten all the way up there was a mystery to Alfred. He reached out his hands and motioned for Matthew to jump. The cat shook his head and stared at him like he was crazy. Alfred sighed and nodded before he waved again and this time the cat hesitantly stood up and backed away to get ready for the jump.

"What the?" Tino and Francis stood up when they heard the crash and saw how Alfred tumbled through the branches. He hit the ground hard but was already sitting up when they hurried over to him. With a triumphing smile he held up the trembling but seemingly all right Matthew. Just to be sure, Francis picked him up and looked him over. Tino helped Alfred stand. "Are you okay?" Alfred smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"What do we do now?" Francis pointed at Mathias that was sitting on the ground glaring at them with his tail waving from side to side.

"You go, I'll try to snap him back" Tino waved as Francis and Alfred disappeared carrying the cat through the forest. He crouched down next to Mathias that was staring after the slowly disappearing nations. "Mathias?" Mathias turned towards him at the mention of his name but Tino could see that he wasn't himself. Tino raised a hand. "I'm sorry about this"

"What?!" Once again, Mathias was brought back to reality by a stinging pain on his cheek. When his vision returned he could see that they were in the middle of a forest and that Tino was sitting next to him looking rather surprised.

"Huh, It actually worked" Tino lowered his hand again and nodded to their right. "We found Matthew and the others are already on their way home." He stood up and looked at Mathias with a smile. "We should get going too". Mathias nodded and stood up.

"Well, I'm glad it worked out at least" They both started walking towards house but they hadn't gone many steps before Mathias was pulled back and fell. Tino turned around and stared at him before he realized and begun laughing.

"Maybe we should get you loose from that tree first?"

Back in the house, Emil had finally finished his round of checkups on the sleeping nations and was now walking randomly around the house. He was pretty sure that he would fall asleep if he sat down and he had to stay awake to keep look out. Who could have done all of this? The only ones able to use magic as far as he knew were Lukas, Arthur and Vladimir that apparently were stuck in his roof. He looked out the window and felt himself get goosebumps as he realized that what or whoever it was, was still out there. At the thought, he pulled down the blinds and walked into the living room where he started picking up some things that had ended up on the floor during the day. Just as he was done, he heard voices outside of the house and he hurried over to the living room window. He sighed in relief when he saw that it was only Francis with Alfred carrying Matthew. He rushed to the door to unlock it and ask them where the remaining two were.

.

"Ow, my head" Antonio saw how Shade stood up again. He had been unconscious for about four hours and the only one that had actually passed them was a small cat that quickly lost interest. Antonio sighed, he had hoped that someone from the house would find him and then realize what was going on but it seemed like he wouldn't have that luck. He had been very pleased when he realized that Shade had weaknesses and that he could use them against him.

"Not used to fatigue, right?" Shade glared at him and Antonio felt himself flinch. He was mad, really mad. His eyes glowed like they were on fire and he took a step towards Antonio.

"You" Antonio couldn't move away as his body stepped closer towards him. "It's all your fault!" Shade stopped when his face was only an inch away from Antonios. "There will be consequences, everything I'll do from now on will be much worse than the things I've done this far" He leaned in even closer and whispered "Remember that all that's happening is all your fault" With an all too wide smile he turned around and started walking again with Antonio right behind.

"How is this my fault?!" Antonio tried for probably the millionth time to sit up or at least grab something they passed but it was no use. The only answer he got was a soft laugh as they continued through the forest.

.

Tino snuck past Mathias that laid on the couch in the living room and carefully entered his and Berwalds room. He quietly laid down to not wake him up and listened to the silence that had settled over the house. He and Mathias had arrived shortly after the others and as long as Mathias and Matthew were separated there weren't any trouble. Everyone had been exhausted after the long day and they had all gone to bed immediately after getting through the door. Mathias had insisted on sleeping on the couch since he would be able to keep an eye out much easier and they had all agreed, a bit relieved to know that he was there. Tino closed his eyes and despite all the different questions running through his mind, he fell asleep.

When Tino woke up, the house was still quiet. He looked at the clock, it was only 7 am but he was wide awake. To not wake up the still sleeping nation next to him he carefully lifted the covers and snuck out. Mathias was quietly snoring in the couch as he passed and made his way to the kitchen.

"Might as well make them all some breakfast!" The atmosphere of the group had been pretty low lately and Tino wanted to find a way to lift it again. After looking through a few cookbooks he decided to just bake a pie that he already knew the recipe for since he had made it too many times to count. It took him a while to gather the ingredients but after about an hour, he finally put it in the oven.

"Morning" Arthur walked into the kitchen still half asleep and sat down on a chair. He was soon followed by both Emil and Alfred and they could hear movement from the living room.

"It smells good" Emil looked at Tino "Making pie again?" Tino smiled and nodded just as Mathias joined them in the kitchen giggling while looking very pleased with himself.

"I know that look, what did you do?" Tino glared at Mathias that shrugged for an answer.

"Nothing really" Tino didn't look away so Mathias chuckled and added "You'll see". After a while they heard footsteps coming down the stairs and it didn't take long until Lukas entered, led by Francis.

"Matthew is staying in the living room right now" Francis pointed towards the room as he helped Lukas find a chair. Mathias nodded and sat down himself just as Tino took out the pie from the oven again. He listened the soft chatter that slowly started to fill the room and felt how he relaxed, more people is always better. The chatter suddenly stopped and all heads were turned towards the doorway. Tino froze in the middle of cutting up pieces of the pie and dropped the knife as he looked at the furious Berwald standing in front of them.

"Mathias, I swear, when I get back to normal-" He couldn't finish his sentence because he was picked up by Tino and was twirled around with through the room.

"I didn't think you could get any cuter!" He was soon put down again, blushing like mad, while Mathias wiped his tears. While Berwald was still asleep, Mathias had snuck inside his room and switched out his clothes to one of those old dresses Lukas had made for Emil many years ago. Berwald sat down and glared at Mathias, wordlessly asking him were his normal clothes were. Mathias looked rather amused and shrugged.

"There's actually a reason for this." He stood up very dramatically and turned to point at Berwald "We all know how world meetings usually turn out so if we use Berwalds cuteness, we can distract everybody from fighting!" He looked very pleased with himself for coming up with such a great plan and the others nodded thoughtfully. He chuckled and added "That's a sentence I never thought I would say!"

"That might actually work…"

"Not bad Mathias."

"I like it"

"What?" Berwald seemed to be the only one that didn't think it was a good idea but there wasn't actually much he could do about it right now. He got distracted when Tino put out plates, each with a piece of the pie. They continued their breakfast in silence and only a few praising words to Tino would break it. Mathias suddenly noticed how Berwald was glaring at him again and moved away his plate a bit. "You can't have it"

"Why would I take it?" Mathias looked at Berwald that still eyed him suspiciously while Emil was chuckling next to him.

"Just a feeling"

 **A/N** Hello! As you might have noticed, the updates are a bit slower now. It's not because I'm tired of this story or anything, I just got a lot of school and stuff going on that I have to take care of! As always, thank you for reading! Reviews are always appreciated!


	19. Chapter 19: Traveling

**Chapter 19**

Traveling

"Got everything you need?" Mathias looked at the nations gathered in front of Lukas house with their bags packed and ready to go. The morning passed peacefully with the only problems being lines to the bathroom and keeping Mathias and Matthew separated. They would be driving to Copenhagen today which would take them about 7 hours and the only thing left to do was getting into the cars and get going.

"Yes! I hope so at least!" Tino was in a very good mood and was skipping towards the car carrying three of their bags. "Let's go!" Emil led Lukas to the car and helped him into the front seat before he hopped into the backseat right behind. Berwald sat in the middle with Tino to his left and Mathias was the one behind the wheels. They were driving Lukas car while the others took Mathias car and they were both soon moving down along the road.

"Are you okay?" Mathias looked at Lukas that was leaning back with his eyes closed. In the backseat, Tino was speaking to the others without pause while Berwald nodded at him and Emil was listening to music in his headphones. They could talk pretty much in private.

"I guess" Lukas kept his eyes closed since there was no reason to open them, everything was dark anyway. Mathias gave him a worried glance before he focused on the road again.

"What do you remember?" The question had been haunting him for a while but he hadn't asked it, both because he hadn't gotten the chance yet and because he was afraid of the answer.

"Not much. You, Emil, fragments. It's all jumbled up. I recognize Tino and Berwald, their voices and their names, but I don't remember them. It's just a familiar feeling" He leaned back and rubbed his forehead in an attempt to clear his mind. He couldn't see anything and a big part of his mind was just as black and empty, it scared him. "I think I'll sleep for a bit"

"Sure" Mathias looked in the rearview mirror when he heard how a silence had settled back there. Tino had fallen asleep, apparently he wasn't as awake as he had seemed, and was leaning on Berwald. Berwald was slightly blushing as he tried to sit still so he wouldn't wake him up. Emil was looking out the window and seemed like he was far away in thought. Mathias looked back on the road and relaxed. They had an idea about how to fix this and they were on their way to do it, only a few more days and this would all be over.

.

"No!" Lovino jolted awake from his own shout and saw how multiple heads had turned his way. He had fallen asleep at the airport while waiting for the plane and had once again had one of those weird dreams. This time he had been running through a vaguely familiar town and he knew that he had to hurry. But why? The details was slowly fading from his memory and it was as if they slipped away even further as he tried to reach them. He remembered the heat, there had been fire. A lot of other people had been there, staring at something. The one thing he remembered the most was the furious screaming and a laugh so obviously belonging to someone that lost control long ago.

"Passengers traveling to Copenhagen can now board the plane. We wish you a safe trip" A soft but tired voice was heard from the speaker system and Lovino stood up and gathered his things. He hadn't slept properly during the night because of the dreams and he felt himself stumble from exhaustion as he walked through the corridor that lead to the plane. Hopefully, he'd be able to get a few hours of sleep on the plane as long as the dreams would leave him alone.

"Just for a few hours" He only needed a few hours to get his energy back. He thought that if he got some rest, maybe he'd feel more like himself again. At least, that's what he was hoping for.

.

Francis and the others had gotten a small head start and therefor they turned up in front of the meeting hall before the others. The car ride had been spent in silence, mostly because Alfred couldn't say anything while the others were too deeply lost in thought to make a sound. They exited the car and stretched out their stiff bodies before they sighed and looked at each other. Alfred held up his whiteboard again. "What now?"

"Let's go inside and prepare. Mathias said that it would be unlocked" Arthur yawned and pointed towards the entrance. "I think he mentioned food too" Alfred was practically halfway to the door at the mention of food while the others followed him right behind. They left their bags in the car since they would be living in a hotel that Mathias had booked for all the nations visiting. The doors opened just as promised and they were met by a smiling young girl that showed them through a door into a dining area.

"Go ahead and eat, Mathias and the gang should be here shortly according to the text I just got" The girl smiled and pointed towards the table. Francis nodded at her while the others rushed towards the table.

"You seem pretty familiar with them." The way she spoke made it seem like she had known them for a long time.

"Ah, well. I've been working for Mathias for a few years now, so I know the others too of course." She smiled at him "Let's just say that I was following the wrong path in life but he led me onto the right one." She smiled even brighter "He says that he'd rather have friends than coworkers so I became his friend!" She suddenly got a very smug look on her face "And of course, I later became his lover…"

"Hey Sofia! Don't go around spreading lies again!" Mathias had suddenly emerged in the doorway with the others close behind. "I got into some real trouble last time!" Sofia pouted and looked at him with innocent eyes.

"I'm just having some fun, that's all" Her eyes suddenly grew wide and she darted over to Mathias "Ah, so soft" While she was feeling Mathias ears and tail, Francis noticed how Berwald slowly tried to sneak past them, but with no luck. She quickly turned her head and narrowed her eyes towards him. "Don't think you'll get away."

"Oh no" Before Berwald could escape he was lifted for the who-knows-how-manyeth time in just a few days. She twirled around with him while she laughed before she gave him a big hug.

"You're even cuter than Mathias described, Ber-Ber!" She chuckled and twirled around once again before she turned towards the others, now holding Berwald under one arm "Well, you should all go eat before it gets cold." With a look towards the table she added "or before those guys has eaten everything."

"Yeah we will, just give us back Berwald and we'll eat" She smiled and nodded before she raised her hands and threw the now small nation towards Mathias that easily caught him. She bowed slightly before she backed out of the room. Mathias shook his head "She might be like that but she's a real help when push comes to shove."

"Hey" Mathias looked at Berwald that was tugging at his sleeve. "Let me down"

"Oh right" Mathias put down the obviously embarrassed Berwald and looked back at the three half-awake nations behind him. "Wake up! It's food!"

"Food?" Tino rubbed his eyes and suddenly got an actual look at the table. "Food!" He rushed past them and was soon eating just as eagerly as the others and the rest soon joined them. Mathias took a seat as far away from Matthew as possible and the dinner went on smoothly. Soon, they were all leaning back in their chairs tired from the long car ride and a lot of food.

"Well then" Matias and sighed and stood up "Should we go to the meeting hall?" The others stretched and followed him through the big building into another room that was much bigger than the last one. A huge window was giving them a grand view over the town and a big table was placed in the middle making plenty of room for everyone that would be coming. Because of the size of the room, it took them a while to realize that someone was sitting at the far end of the table but just as they did, Sofia poked her head through the doorway.

"I forgot to mention, you weren't the first ones here" She grinned before she quickly disappeared again to wait at the door and welcome all the others that would arrive. Mathias sighed again and shook his head, Sofia had been working as his assistant for many years and she had been the one looking after the most important parts of his work while he'd been looking after Emil these past few weeks. Even though she could be a pain sometimes, he trusts her just as much as he trusts Lukas. He flinched when he noticed the look Tino was giving him, as he often did when it came to Sofia.

"I know, I know. I won't get too attached." Mathias smiled at him while Tino nodded carefully.

"I just don't want you to get hurt" Tino turned his attention to the person sitting at the table and started walking to see who it was with the others close behind. They heard soft snores as they closed in and soon they were right beside him. "Yao? Is it you?"

"Ah! Stop following me!" Tinos soft voice startled him and made Yao suddenly sit up in his chair. His eyes slowly focused on the confused nations "Oh, you're finally here!" He suddenly got a suspicious look on his face "Because you are real right?"

"Yes?" Mathias answered questioningly.

"Oh good" Yao stood up and smiled at them "You all look strange so I got a little worried."

"What happened to you?" Tino was a bit worried since Yao didn't look completely convinced that they were real.

"I've been hallucinating for days! I see things everywhere that I can't explain and I think I might be going insane." Arthur pushed himself to the front of the group and grabbed Yao while he stared at him intensively.

"What do you see in here?" His sudden glare startled Yao that quickly looked around to answer his question fast.

"There's this girl with a tail walking around flirting with people, a few small men that sort of look like little Santas, there's some big green thing floating behind Lukas and is that a unicorn?" Yao looked right beside Arthur and pointed while looking utterly confused. Arthur released his grip and took a step back. He sighed and sat down.

"How should I explain this…" While Arthur tried to convince Yao that he wasn't hallucinating but actually seeing living creatures the others, except Emil, sat down in the comfortable chairs and looked at each other.

"Well, I guess we'll just wait for the rest then." Tino sounded cheery as Emil walked over to the big window and looked outside. He saw people passing by one by one, all hurrying home after a long day at work. The view was really grand, they were on the fourth floor after all and therefor he could see above the rooftops of most other buildings. He saw how the birds flew past and how the wind caught on to a hat, making it fly away. He saw how the clouds slowly passed over the sky and how a dark shape was slowly making its way closer. Emil narrowed his eyes. What was that? The shape slowly grew bigger and bigger, it looked like some sort of bird. It wouldn't change direction but was steadily making progress towards him.

"What is it Emil?" Mathias noticed how Emil took a startled step back and wondered what could have happened. Without answering, Emil suddenly ran up to the window and threw it wide open before he once again took a quick step back. The nations around the table stood up as a person very suddenly, and fast, flew through the window and crashed right into Francis.

"So sorry! I haven't gotten the landings under control yet!" Elizabeta stood up and brushed off a bit of dust from her dress. "So, is it only us this far?" No one answered, they were all too busy staring at the big white wings that was sticking out behind the smiling nation before them.

"You look like an angel" Tino walked up to Elizabeta and reached out a hand to feel the soft wings. She looked surprised as she saw him but realized pretty quickly.

"Tino? Is that you?" He nodded as he continued to feel the soft feathers. She looked around at the others one by one and took in their new looks. "So I'm not the only one who grew some new body parts?" Elizabeta walked over to Mathias to get a closer look, almost knocking Tino down in the process, but turned back around when she noticed Francis standing up again after being knocked down. Her eyes grew wide in surprise when she saw him. "What happened to you?"

"Laugh all you want, I can't fix it anyway" The fact that Francis looked really down about this made Elizabeta hold back the chuckle that had been growing within her. It was just too ironic. They heard how Arthur continued his chat with Yao. The atmosphere slowly calmed down again and Elizabeta looked around.

"So, what happened to you all?" She crouched down and pinched Berwald in his cheek "I mean, except for the obvious ones" Berwald backed away and hid behind Lukas which earned him a small squeak from the winged nation. Mathias chuckled and pointed towards Emil.

"Well, for starters, Emil got healthy again." Emil nodded in agreement as Mathias continued. "Lukas here lost his memory and because of some things that is all behind us now, he also got blind" Lukas narrowed his eyes towards where he believed she would be. He didn't recognize her voice so he felt a bit suspicious towards her. Mathias sighed "Lukas, you can trust these people"

"Hmm" He didn't sound completely convinced but relaxed a bit. Mathias shook his head and pointed towards Alfred.

"Alfred lost his voice, let's say the last few days has been pretty quiet" His comment earned him a glare from the nation but he just smiled and went on "And then there's Arthur…" He trailed of and his smile fell when he realized. "I don't know" Many pairs of eyes turned towards Arthur that visibly tensed.

"We never asked" Francis sighed deeply and sat down.

"It's nothing important, really. Not to you anyway." They could barely hear the last sentence being mumbled as he nervously scratched his neck. Just as Francis was going to angrily question Arthur the door suddenly opened and through it came Antonio. He seemed a bit tired but kept his usual smile.

"Hello! I'm not late, right?"


	20. Chapter 20: Little Fairy

**Chapter 20**

Little Fairy

It seemed like Antonio quickly noticed the tension in the room because his smile fell for a second. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, nothing" Arthur crossed his arms and gave the others a look to tell them that this conversation was over. The other nations decided to oblige for now but they all knew he wouldn't be able to hide it forever. "What's wrong with you then?" Arthur tried to shift the focus to the newly arrived nation and succeeded.

"Well, I'm fine but my shadow seems to have gotten a mind of its own" He pointed behind him at the wall where they all could see how the shadow waved at them franticly. Arthur frowned and stood up before he walked around the table to get a closer look.

"I've never heard about anything like it before" He felt certain that something was off about this, he had never even read about this before. Before his hand reached the wall, Antonio grabbed his wrist and shook his head.

"Don't. Lovi got hurt when he touched it before, he can tell you when he gets here" When Arthur still didn't pull back he added "Wait until we know some more at least"

"He's right" Lukas suddenly spoke up "Don't mess with things you aren't sure you can control" He frowned and mumbled "Apparently I don't listen to myself very well" Arthur backed away and nodded just as the door once again opened and a very tired looking grumpy Italian passed through. Antonio lit up and ran up to him.

"Lovi! You're here!" Lovino easily avoided the hug and sat down. He was so tired, the plane ride had felt so slow and he hadn't been able to sleep anything either. While ignoring the disappointed look on Antonios face he looked directly on Arthur.

"So, what's going on?" It was more of a demand than a question but before Arthur could even answer he did himself "Oh, I guess we should wait until the rest gets here. Who's left? Feliciano, Ludwig, Gilbert, Ivan and Kiku right?" The others stared at him and he groaned before he placed his forehead onto the table. "Don't ask, let me sleep" A sudden shriek turned their attention towards Yao. He was standing up looking pale and devastated at the same time.

"I've made a terrible mistake."

.

The wind was too strong and Ivan tumbled through the air until he crashed into a tree where he finally stopped and got a look around. He had already blown far away from the meeting hall and was unsure of how to get back there. Patiently he managed to get his scarf, which had gotten caught up in the branches, loose from the tree and climbed out to the edge to look down. The ground was far below him but he had never had any problems with heights, especially not now that he knew he wouldn't fall. The wind shook his branch gently as he thought back to what had just happened only 20 minutes ago.

Ivan had arrived a bit early since there wasn't so many planes flying to Copenhagen that day and had quickly made his way to the meeting hall. Since he had been so early he was quite surprised to see that Yao was already there. Yao had also seemed surprised to see him but that was pretty expected since his looks had changed quite drastically. "Hello Yao!" Ivan had gotten quite concerned when he didn't get any answer, instead it seemed Yao was ignoring him. "Hmm? What's the matter? I don't like when people ignore me you know." He didn't realize until afterwards that it could have sounded a bit threatening but he couldn't take it back.

"Creepy, too creepy." Yao had stood up and walked over to a big window before he opened it wide. Of course, Ivan had followed still a bit annoyed at getting ignored. "Not real" Yao kept looking out the window and took deep breaths of the clear air.

"What is not real Yao? Me? I'm very real you know, just a bit different" Ivan sat down on the window ledge and looked at Yao that still seemed to try his best to not see him. He sighed and added "I'll be here even if you don't want to you know" Suddenly, Yao had turned towards him and before he could react, he was grabbed around his waist.

"Then I'll make you leave" Ivan couldn't fight back as Yao threw him out the window and he was caught by the wind to tumble through the city. Now he was sitting on a branch in a tree trying to figure out which way to go. After deciding to just start flying in a random direction, since the building was taller than the others anyway, he stretched out the thin wings and lifted. It had taken him a while to get used to but eventually he did, both the wings and the small size.

Being a fairy could apparently be tough sometimes.

.

"YOU THREW IVAN OUT THE WINDOW?" It was an understatement saying that the nations, with a few exceptions, was freaking out. Yao was pacing back and forth through the room while the others stared at him.

"I didn't think it was actually him! He was so small and sparkly and creepy and weird and I didn't know what to do so I panicked and threw him and he's probably pissed right now and I didn't know so I just…"

"Wait, wait." Mathias interrupted "It can't be that bad right?" The stares he got was enough to make him rethink. He sighed and went up to Yao "I wish you luck"

"THAT IS NOT VERY COMFORTING!"

"Hey, hey, let's calm down. I'm sure he'll understand!" Tino tried to calm them down "Besides, if he's as small as you're saying then he can't do much right?"

"That's true" Berwald agreed and the tension lifted a little bit from the room. Yao stared and crouched down to Berwalds eye level which made him take a step back.

"I feel compelled to trust him" As Yao reached out to touch him, Berwald quickly snuck away to hide behind Tinos legs. It wasn't a very good hiding spot though since Elizabeta was quick to sneak up from behind and pick him up.

"It's because he's adorable!" She hugged him tightly while he looked at Tino with pleading eyes. Tino sighed and decided to save Berwald from being squeezed but just as he walked over, Berwald was taken away from Elizabeta by Yao.

"I guess so" Elizabeta frowned when she looked at the two.

"I was holding him"

"You'll have to share"

"Then it's my turn now"

"But I just got him!"

"Please calm down!" Tino stepped between the two nations and managed, with a certain amount of force, get Berwald loose from their grip. "I guess your 'Use Bers cuteness to our advantage'-plan might fail after all" He looked at Mathias that nodded.

"I guess so" It seemed like he was doing his best not to laugh "It's still pretty fun though- Ow!" The comment earned a kick to his leg from Berwald that had just gotten down on the ground again. There was still tension between the nations on Tinos both sides so Berwald sighed and walked over. He closed his eyes for a moment before he looked at them one by one while trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Please don't fight over me, let's sit down and talk instead. 'kay?" There wasn't a chance that they would be able to resist that so, almost in a daze, the two nations sat down at the table. Meanwhile, Berwald had turned around and tried to get through his embarrassment. Emil and Tino seemed mostly impressed while Mathias had to once again try his hardest to not break out into laughter. Lukas must have felt him shaking from suppressing it because he elbowed Mathis in his side as a distraction.

"I want to sit down" Mathias led Lukas to the table, relieved to get something to do, and let him sit down. Everyone except Alfred followed his example and sat down one by one. Berwald decided to sit in Tinos lap since he could barely see over the edge of the table otherwise. Soft snores was coming from Lovino that apparently had managed to sleep through the fight, though it didn't seem like he slept very well.

"So, should we just wait?" Antonio smiled while his shadow seemed to try out very poorly performed sign language. Arthur nodded.

"There's not much else to do right now, though they should be here any minute" As if that was some sort of cue, the door suddenly flew open and Ludwig twirled inside.

"What the-"

"Feliciano!" As Feliciano walked through the door with a frown on his face the others were pretty confused on why he was shouting his own name. "I told you to wait for me!"

"But it's so much fun! I can walk so much faster since your legs are much longer than mine!" Ludwig turned towards the stunned nations "Ciao! We're here now!" The realization settled in with them but it took a while before they could speak.

"You switched bodies?" Feliciano smiled and nodded which looked pretty creepy on Ludwigs body. Lovino finally woke up and sat up to look at them before he narrowed his eyes.

"What took you so long? You live right next door." He stood up and walked over to Ludwig which, for once, was at eye level with him. "You were probably too busy thinking perverted thoughts inside my brothers body"

"I wouldn't! I don't like this any more than you!"

"Please don't fight! We were busy looking for Gilbert!" Feliciano turned towards the others that had finally gotten used to the change. "He has disappeared!"

"Weren't he with you when it happened?" They all sat down and Ludwig sighed.

"No, he sometimes goes to the beach to be alone" He rubbed his, or technically Felicianos, temples in an attempt to think clearly "We went there but all we could find was his torn up pants and I'm not sure if I want to know anymore".

"I'm sure he's fine!" Feliciano patted him comfortingly on his back. Ludwig groaned and waved dismissively with his hand.

"Lets just get this meeting started" Mathias shook his head.

"We can't, we're still waiting for Kiku. Gilbert too I guess even if we can't really count on it" He saw how Ludwig nodded and leaned back instead, there wasn't much else to do. Feliciano on the other hand seemed pretty excited.

"While we wait, why don't we share some stories from these past few days? Like how yesterday I had to help Ludwig open a jar because the lid was stuck and I just popped it open really easily." He made a movement with his hands as if he was opening a jar "I mean, Ludwigs muscles are very firm! There's so many things I could lift and it was so much fun! I'm not kidding, here you can feel if you want-"

"Feliciano, that's enough." Ludwig actually seemed a bit flustered but at least Feliciano calmed down a bit. Arthur turned towards Lovino.

"You're the only one we don't know about yet" A disagreeing cough came from Francis but he managed to ignore it. "So, what's wrong with you?"

"I don't know! I feel calm all the time, I do stuff I wouldn't normally do and I have these weird dreams that I barley remember when I wake up" His eyes suddenly locked onto Berwald. "Wait, you were there! In my dream!" Berwald frowned and tried to become invisible, he felt like he had gotten enough attention for one day. Or for a lifetime.

"I see" Arthur looked very lost in thought which spiked the others interest.

"Do you know what this is?" Lovino rose from his chair when Arthur nodded. "What?"

"I have to check first but I think I read about this." He searched through his bag until he found a book. "You can all talk about something so I can focus on my reading" Lovino sat down as he realized that he wouldn't get any answers anytime soon and Feliciano was quick to come up with a subject. Alfred was leaning against the wall close to the door, right behind Lovino, and was thinking about how weird it sounded when Ludwigs deep voice had an Italian accent when he felt a vibration in his pocket. He picked up the phone and saw that he'd gotten a text but was confused when he saw that it was from Arthur.

From: Eyebrow Dude  
'Attack Lovino when he isn't ready'

His confusion only increased when he saw the content of the text and he looked up towards Arthur. It really looked like he was reading but Alfred managed to meet his eyes for a second, he was serious about this. Before he could do anything else, he got another text.

From: Eyebrow Dude  
'You owe me one'

Alfred sighed and put away his phone. He'd have to trust Arthur on this one and it would be fine as long as he didn't use too much force. Lovino seemed to be quite distracted by the conversation right now so, with only a moment of hesitation, Alfred charged forward.


	21. Chapter 21: The Meeting

**Chapter 21**

The Meeting

"What!?"

"How?!"

"Why did-" Shade was just as confused as the others as he looked down at the floor. Alfred was laying flat down with one arm bent behind his back where Lovino was sitting, keeping him down. It didn't last long though since Lovino quickly got up and backed away while he stared at his hands.

"How did I-" There had been almost no time to react when Alfred had suddenly charged forward but before he had even reached the table, Lovino had turned around to grab the arm flying towards him. Using the momentum of the running nation, he pulled and threw Alfred to his back before he twisted his arm which forced him to roll over. It had gone so fast that Shade almost missed it and it was over before anyone could even react.

"It's just as I thought" Their attention was turned towards Arthur that looked very pleased with himself. He stood up and walked over just as Alfred stood up again, not looking all too happy. Arthur pointed towards Lovino "You got future vision!"

"He got what?" This was not good. Shade looked at Lovino, if he could see the future it could cause some real trouble.

"Future vision. It doesn't seem like it's conscious though, but you know what will happen before it happens. That's-"

"That's why I'm calm all the time and that's what all those weird dreams are." Lovino finished for him before he frowned and mumbled "Though I can't quite remember them" Arthur nodded and was just about to answer when he was hit in the head by a flying whiteboard.

"Ow! What was that for?" He stared at Alfred that furiously pointed at him. Arthur picked up the whiteboard from the floor and read the messy writing out loud.

"Don't use me for your weird tricks" He threw he board back "I said I was going to check my theory didn't I?" Shade watched how the fight continued, one at the verge of yelling while the other was furiously writing, but he barely noticed. Instead he looked at Lovino that was following the fight, slightly amused, and frowned. He had to do something about him or else it was only a matter of time before his plans would be revealed. At the same time, he didn't want to hurt Lovino or get rid of him just yet. He was far too precious to Antonio to be wasted that quickly.

"You will get caught sooner or later. I'm looking forward to it" Shade tried to not react at Antonios mockery but he felt his irritation build up almost immediately.

"Hey"

"You can't hide it, your secret will be out soon enough"

"Antonio!" Lovinos voice snapped him back to reality. "What's up with that face?"

"Nothing, I'm fine" The smile was back on his face but Shade was boiling on the inside. It was hard playing Antonio, why did he have to be smiling all the time? Lovino shrugged and looked back at the fight that had somehow escalated into a physical one that now involved Francis, Yao and Tino as well while Mathias tried to break it up.

"Take a step to your right" Lovino pulled at him until he moved and the same moment he did, a shoe came flying past them at lightning speed. He shrugged again as Shade stared at him "Just had a feeling". They continued to watch the fight were Mathias had gotten shoved away from the struggling group and looked like he was thinking hard. Emil sat on the window ledge and looked out, seemingly uninterested in what was going on. Suddenly, it seemed like Mathias got an idea since he stood up and walked over to Berwald to pick him up. They couldn't hear the conversation but it seemed like Berwald did not agree at all with his suggestion. After a while though he sighed and nodded and they saw how Mathias mouthed 'Good luck' before he walked over to the fighters and threw Berwald into the pile. It ended in seconds after that but soon another fight started on who would get to carry Berwald first.

"That is enough!" Ludwig stood up "Everybody sit down! Let's discuss this like grown-ups!" A silence settled over the room before the first chuckle began, then the next started and it spread like a wildfire through the room.

"I'm sorry but we can't really take you seriously like this" Ludwig sat down again and sighed as he realized that it was no use in trying. Well, at least the fighting had stopped. Once again, they saw how the door opened and the last nation entered.

"I'm terribly sorry for my late arrival" Kiku bowed slightly, a bit flustered about being late.

"It's fine, thought I guess we should get started then?" Mathias looked at Arthur that nodded.

"Yes, let's all sit down." The nations gathered around the table "First of all, Kiku, tell us what happened to you please".

"Yes, of course." Kiku straightened up in his seat "Well, It seems I can communicate with animals."

"What?! Unfair! I want that!" Tino frowned in his seat while Matthew made his way up on the table. Mathias grabbed the edge of the in an attempt to fight the urge to go after him. The cat sat down in front of Kiku and stared at him.

"Huh? So it's Matthew I see." He nodded at the cat that didn't seem to have done much other than just stare at him. "Yes, yes sure I can. To Mathias? Okay" He turned towards Mathias "He say that it wasn't your fault. It's fine" Matthew walked back to his spot in Francis lap while Mathias sighed, a bit relieved. Arthur stood up and the nations turned their attention towards him.

"Listen carefully now, this is what we know" Arthur drew the circles he had seen at Lukas place at the chalkboard placed at the end of the table and explained how they worked. "That's why it's only us here, I sent the outmost circles to Vladimir and called the ones that would most likely be in the middle here. The ones that could be affected the most so to say" He wrote their names and symptoms next to the circle with a question mark at Gilberts name. "Also, we know that there's someone out there that's after us."

"And how do you know this?" Elizabeta looked suspiciously at Arthur that tried his best to avoid her eyes.

"We were attacked, that's all you need to know" She frowned but let him continue "It's someone that can use magic so my theory is that a nation has gotten possessed or something along those lines." There was a silence around the table as they took in all of this information. Arthur looked at them and tried to remember if there was something else he needed to say when he suddenly saw Antonio stand up.

"What about Gilbert? What if he's the one possessed!" There was a gasp coming from around the table as they turned their attention to the list.

"That's a possibility" Arthur got lost in thought while Ludwig seemed to be the only one to disagree with this theory, or at least he didn't want to believe it.

"He's probably just lost or something, that's all" Feliciano patted him on his back, a little bit too hard, to comfort him while the others looked at him with pity. Of course he was worried about his brother, who wouldn't be in the same situation? Arthur looked at the watch.

"It's getting late. All of you are pretty much here so we can keep an eye on you until the outer circles are broken so there's not much else to do" A few yawns came from a few nations as he continued "How about we go to sleep for tonight? We live in groups of two or three at the hotel just across the street so go ahead and partner up" He was just about to sit down when he remembered one last thing "Oh right, also, no one goes out alone"

"Then I'll live with Lovi! It'll be just like old times!" Antonio looked way too happy to be turned down so Lovino only sighed and nodded, after all he didn't feel like anything bad would happen so how could it? Future vision could be handy sometimes. Suddenly, they all felt a chill run down their spines just a moment before small knocks were heard from the window. They looked over and felt their jaws drop as they saw a clearly pissed, small Russian fairy banging on the glass.

"We forgot about Ivan"

"We forgot about Ivan"

"We forgot about Ivan!" The sentence was repeated multiple times in disbelief but soon enough, Mathias got up to let him in. As he opened the window they felt how the cool evening wind blew through the room for a moment.

"Ah, I almost thought you had forgotten about me but that can't be the case right?" He flew over to the very disheartened Yao and sat down on his head.

"Of course not!"

"We would never!"

"We totally did." Luckily, Arthur was fast enough to smudge the writing on Alfreds sign before Ivan could read it.

"What a relief, I was really worried" He slid down to land on Yao's shoulder instead. "I heard something about room partners right? Then I'll live with Yao, we have some things to talk about" Yao looked around at the others in an attempt to find a saviour but with no such luck. They just nodded and smiled back.

"I'm a bit surprised that everyone can see you though, being a fairy and all" Arthur seemed a bit curious but was too tired to investigate any further.

"Well then! Now that that's over with, how about we take our leave? Yao, you can fill Ivan in right?" Mathias smiled and stood up as Yao nodded. The others were soon on their feet as well and followed Mathias through the door. He had chosen a hotel that was close to the meeting hall so they didn't have to carry their luggage too far. They easily checked in, since they were the only ones at the hotel, and after carefully whishing Yao good luck they all went to their rooms to unpack and get some much needed showers and sleep.

.

"Finally" Emil laid back on the bed while Mathias unpacked their clothes into the wardrobe they all now shared. They heard how the shower started, Lukas had insisted that he could handle it himself and even though it had taken a bit of swearing and struggling it seemed like he had finally managed.

"Everything alright?" Mathias finished and sat down next to him. "What you got there?" He pointed at a book in Emils lap.

"Oh, it's a book Lovino brought. His unconscious self or whatever told him to bring it" Emil sat up again and opened it. It was one of three books that Lovino had taken with him and it looked very old. He flipped through the pages and looked at the pictures of people often caught up in battle, almost always in pain. "It's for Lukas to investigate, though he can't really read it yet"

"Hmm, I guess he can look at it when he gets his eyesight back." Mathias stretched out on the bed and yawned. "So do you want to share a bed or have your own?" There was only two beds in the room, one double bed for two people to share and a single bed for the third person.

"Alone. I sleep alone" Emil seemed pretty set on not sharing so Mathias didn't argue. Besides, he'd get to keep a close eye on Lukas without having to feel guilty about it. Lukas came out of the bathroom and everything seemed to have gone fine except for the shirt being put on backwards. While Mathias got up to help him, Emil moved over to his newly claimed bed and started reading. He actually found it quite interesting and was soon lost in the book.

.

"I don't think Gilbert is the one" Lovino looked up at Antonio that just got out of the bathroom. He seemed confused for a moment so Lovino added "You know, the one attacking us."

"And why do you think that?" Lovino scooted over as Antonio sat down next to him on the bed while his shadow just stood still on the wall with its hands balled at its sides.

"I just have a feeling, I think I saw him in a dream" He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment "I think you were there too, running from something"

"Maybe you're just worried about me" Antonio stood up and chuckled through Lovinos protests. As he turned around again, Lovino had already gone to bed.

"I'm going to sleep now." He flinched when he felt Antonio scoot down next to him "You sleep somewhere else!" He sat up and stared angrily at the other.

"But it's cold everywhere else! Come on, it'll be like old times again" Still mumbling protests, Lovino laid down again. He was too tired to argue about it for now and because of this, he fell asleep almost immediately despite feeling irritated at the lullabies hummed by the nation next to him.

The dream felt too real this time. It was as if everything was on fire, the sky, the ground, everything. The light was blinding for a moment before it all suddenly got dark. "kas!" Lovino turned towards the voice and started walking. "ukas!" He started running, the voice was filled with panic. It was asking for help. A light showed up in the distance and he could see the shape of a human floating in the darkness. Was he too late? He stopped right next to the person and could finally see who it was. Emils eyes were empty and he wasn't breathing which made Lovino take a frightened step backwards. He tripped over something and fell through the darkness until he was caught by someone. Antonio looked at him with a smile.

"You're mine now" He smiled even wider, it spread creepily over his whole face. Lovino struggled to get out of the grip but Antonio only pulled him in closer "Just like everything soon will be"

He sat up in the bed, panting and sweating. That was the worst one yet, it had felt like it was already happening or was going to soon. As always, the details were already slipping away but right now he remembered enough. He looked at his side at the still sleeping nation and carefully made his way out of the bed. He had to warm the others. The threat wasn't outside, it was already amongst them. The door wasn't far away, but just as he was reaching out for it he heard a soft voice that now sent chills up his spine.

"Where are you going Lovi?"


	22. Chapter 22: Ancient History

**Chapter 22**

Ancient History

"Where are you going?" Lovino heard how Antonio moved closer as he repeated the question. He tried to figure out a solution but all the ideas that came to mind only felt wrong, he knew they wouldn't work. If he tried to run, he'd get caught. Screaming wouldn't work either since Antonio had chosen a room far away from the others. Lying wouldn't work either. The only option he could think off that had even the slightest chance of succeeding was to try and trick him. He took a deep breath, every believable lie had to have at least a small piece of truth in it. That's what made it believable.

"I had a dream, I have to repeat it to Arthur before I forget about it" Without turning around, Lovino stood still with his hand on the handle and carefully pushed it down. He felt Antonios presence right behind him and flinched when he felt Antonio grabbing his wrist.

"Let's not wake him up, he's been working hard lately, tell me instead and I'll write it down so we can tell him in the morning" The grip on his wrist tightened and Lovino felt himself get pulled around against his will. The look on Antonios face scared him, the smile was so obviously fake and you could almost feel the anger burning within him, the heat shining through his eyes. Lovino felt his other wrist get caught and they were both lifted above his head. "Tell me what you saw."

"Let go of me" He tried to sound demanding, but it was hard as he was too scared to even move.

"I will, if you tell me" Antonio smiled again and leaned in right next to his ear to whispered "I won't hurt you if you tell me" That was the only proof Lovino needed, he was sure this wasn't the Antonio he knew. He struggled to get out of his grip but it was no use, the grip was too tight and as a last resort he tried to kick him hard in his side. Antonio only laughed as he easily avoided it and pushed Lovino down on the bed, still holding his hands above his head. "Are your future vision a bit blurry? Maybe something is blocking it, what could it be I wonder?" He chuckled creepily and grabbed both Lovinos wrists in one of his hands, the other one motioning towards the wardrobe that slowly opened. A thin rope came out and moved through the air towards them. Lovino froze in fear but soon realised that this was his chance as Antonio focused on the rope. He managed to rip one hand free and before Antonio could react, Lovino got a hit in right over his cheek. The rope fell and Antonio rolled over groaning, finally making Lovino fully free. He quickly stood up and backed away.

"You're not Antonio!" As the thing slowly stood up, Lovino turned and rushed towards the door. He knew that he had to get away. He threw himself at it which made it fly open but he could only take a few steps before he suddenly froze. It felt just like he had suddenly turned into a statue, stuck without being able to move, but soon he felt how he got pulled back inside the room.

"I hoped I wouldn't have to waste any more energy on you but you're far too tiresome" Lovino had never seen that look on Antonios face before. It was filled with hatred, with anger, with lust and with more than a little madness. Of all those years they had known each other, this was the first time Lovino was genuinely scared of Antonio.

.

Emil looked at the clock, it was already 3 am but he couldn't put the book away. Despite having been so tired before, he now felt fully awake while reading in the light of his phones flashlight. He wasn't sure what to call the book. It told stories of wars from ancient times as if they had happened but the way they fought couldn't be real. Battles between mages, using energy to strike, not having any actual weapons except their bodies, it sounded all too improbable. Though, if he thought about these few days, nothing really seemed impossible anymore. He looked over at the bed where the other two nations were sleeping peacefully. Mathias tail was waving again, showing that he probably was having a really good dream. Emil chuckled and returned to the book before he flipped pages to the next chapter.

The images were gruesome, they had been throughout the whole book, but this one really took the price. Emil had to take a moment too look it over and even after he had taken it all in, it left a bad feeling deep within him. It showed a battle, a very one sided battle to be exact. The men having the upper hand stood at the right side on the image while the rest were either laying dead on the ground or running away as fast as they could with terrified looks on their faces. Despite them retreating it seemed like the winners had no plan on letting them. They were all smiling creepily, no one holding any actual weapon but some seemed to hold fire, all in different colours, in their hands. But this wasn't the worst part. The worst part was how behind them stood dark creatures, all holding what seemed like strings connected to the humans, seemingly controlling them. Emil gasped at the sight but quickly started reading. He had to reread it all multiple times. It sounded strange and all too familiar.

 _Nobody really remembers when they turned against us, some people even believe that it never happened. But I remember, I will never forget, and the cries of the families that lost a son, a brother, a father or a loved one to them will never disappear. They have always been by our sides but we have never really seen them, maybe that's why they suddenly attacked. Feeling ignored, feeling weak, both of those can drive anyone mad. Maybe they were just born that way. Born to kill, born to bring destruction. First, they took our bodies, forced us to hurt our own kind. Our own friends. Then they slowly took our minds, we lost them, trapped somewhere unable to think or see at all. It was at that moment they became us, the ones we were didn't exist anymore. Everyone was scared, there was nowhere to hide and you couldn't know if yours would turn against you too. The only ones that survived the attack was the ones, like me, that cowardly hid or travelled to other countries while our brethren got killed fighting. I can't say that I regret it. I survived. But I'm sorry._

 _It wasn't until a certain man found a way to break through, to reclaim his body as his own, that we had a chance to fight back. We saw hope, for the first time we saw a future. Some say that the battle lasted for 100 years. Some claim it was only a week. It doesn't matter anymore because, even now when we feel like it's over, we're never safe and we never will be. Even now they always watch us. Our shadows._

 _Who is your friend and who is your enemy? There was only one way to know for sure. If their shadow moved on their own, you could be sure that they were either possessed or about to be and you had to kill them. Many begged for mercy, saying that they weren't possessed, but we couldn't know. We could never be sure. If they weren't moving, you were safe. Still, some people sided with the shadows as they believ…_

"Antonio" His whisper was barely audible as he flipped to the next page but couldn't find any more information. The sentence stopped so suddenly it was almost as if something had happened to the author. Still holding the book, he made his way out of bed. He considered waking up the other two nations but as he looked at them, he couldn't. Mathias had laid a protective arm around Lukas that seemed to sleep very deeply. While thinking that Lukas needed all the rest he could get, he carefully snuck out of the room. After all, he only had to go to Antonio and warn him so he would have a chance if the shadow decided to turn against him. He figured that it still was Antonio in control since he didn't have that creepy smile or evil glare the people on the picture had, he was still acting just like himself.

.

"Oh, you almost had me there for a second" Lovino stared at the Antonio sitting at the end of the bed. He, himself, was sitting in the middle of it with his hands tied behind his back and his feet tied together as well. Antonio was smiling but something was wrong, he looked crazy as if he had gone mad. He wiped his nose that was still bleeding. "You can be quite strong when you need it, well I guess that makes sense since-"

"Who are you?" Lovino interrupted while trying to not show his fear. Antonio frowned a bit and put his finger up to Lovinos lips.

"Shush, I do like getting interrup-"

"Where's Antonio?" It seemed like it took all of his self-restraint not to smack him right there and then.

"You've always been a spoiled brat, you know that?" The room was dark, the only light being the one coming from a lonely lamppost outside the window. Lovino watched as whoever-it-was stood up and took a few calming breaths.

"I can't get upset, can't waste any more energy." He suddenly looked up and stared behind him on the wall. "Of course I can't! He'd just find out again and as I already said, I can't waste my energy!" Lovino frowned in confusion, what was he doing? He watched as Antonio stood up and walked over to the wall, slammed a fist in it and added "It's taking too much energy keeping both his and Alfreds memories locked away already! I can't mess around with his thoughts anymore." His eyes suddenly grew wide in anger "SHUT UP! My plan won't fail." Suddenly, Lovino noticed the weak outlining of a shadow on the wall which was enough to make him realise.

"The shadow, it's Antonio isn't it?" His voice made "Antonio" turn around to stare at him and Lovino could see that he was slowly losing whatever control he had left.

"You figured it out huh? Good job! 100% correct! What's your prize let's see…Money? Ladies? Freedom? What do you want?" He turned on the lamp making Antonio clearly visible on the wall. "Maybe you want your memories back? Sure! I don't have to keep them anymore!" A sudden pain spreading from his forehead made Lovino gasp and fall back on the bed. It didn't last for long but when it faded he suddenly remembered.

"You! It was you that knocked me out that time!"

"Bravo, Bravo!" His voice was filled with sarcasm "Oh my, how rude of me! I guess it's time for an introduction" He walked closer just as Lovino sat up again. "My name is Shade, former shadow to a certain very annoying Spaniard." He suddenly looked up at Antonio on the wall "You quit it. He can't run anywhere so you can stop telling him to" Shade chuckled and looked over at Lovino "He knows what I'm planning for you so he wants you to get away" He was suddenly close and placed both his hands around Lovinos cheeks and mumbled, almost only to himself. "Such a pretty face, it'd be a shame to ruin it. But well…" He placed a kiss on Lovinos forehead. "At least you're mine now"

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

.

"What do you think?" Tino plopped down on the bed next to Berwald.

"Hm?" He got a hum and a confused look as an answer so Tino elaborated.

"Do you think it's Gilbert attacking us?" He swayed with his legs over the edge "I mean, it's certainly a possibility but we shouldn't assume anything as long as we don't know right?"

"Hmm, I don't think it's him" Berwald nodded thoughtfully "If he was alone as Ludwig said I don't believe that he would let his guard down long enough to get overpowered. Even though he certainly is annoying at times, he isn't gullible and he has been in many battles. He wouldn't get taken that easily" Tino blinked at him.

"Berwald…"

"Yes?"

"This child thing seems to make you more talkative, I think that was the longest sentence I've heard in years!" He chuckled as Berwald only blushed as an answer "But I guess you're right." Tino hopped of the bed again "I wonder who it can be though?"

 **A/N** Once again, thank you for all the support! If you who follows this story got multiple alerts about it, I apologise. I've had some trouble publishing it!

Jasmin: Whatever it is going on in your life, you will get through it. Even though it seems hopeless at times, you can do it. I believe in you! Meanwhile, I hope that my story can keep brightening your day at least a little. Stay strong!


	23. Chapter 23: What should I do?

**Chapter 23**

What should I do?

It had sounded as if they were arguing but Emil only hesitated for a moment before he knocked on the door. This was far too important to let their usual bickering stop him, he had to warn Antonio right now. It got quiet inside the room and after maybe a minute the door creaked open and Antonio looked outside. "Oh, Emil! What are you doing here? It's pretty late you know."

"It seems like you were up anyway so I shouldn't really matter" Emil walked up to the door "Can I come inside? I need to show you something."

"Well, actually, right now isn't the best time…" Emil had already pushed himself past Antonio and was making his way through the hotel room.

"It's really important" He looked around but couldn't see Lovino anywhere so he guessed that he was in the bathroom or something. "What happened to your face?" Antonio had just followed him and was rubbing his cheek as if it were hurting.

"We just got into a little fight" Emil nodded and sat down on the bed to open the book.

"I found something and I think it can be connected to your spell" Antonio sat down next to him so Emil moved the book over to his lap and stood up, unable to relax. He paced back and forth through the room and threw suspicious glances towards the moving shadow on the wall as Antonio read it.

"You really think this might be it?" Antonio looked up from the book and seemed really worried. He turned back at the book to reread it once again.

"Probably and if it is, you need to be prepared" Emil looked at Antonio that was reading the page with furrowed brows. Of course he would be worried, he could hurt someone if he let himself get taken. Emil turned his gaze up at the wall and suddenly froze in place. He followed the movement of the shadow closely, it kept pointing from Antonio and back at himself over and over again but Emil couldn't understand, or he didn't want to. Almost unconsciously, he moved slowly across the room towards the wall were the shadow was projected.

"What are you doing?" Emil barley heard him as he, almost hypnotised, lifted his hand. Something, a feeling deep within him, was telling him to go on. "Stop!" His hand reached the wall and he touched the shadow.

"If you can hear me, It's me! Antonio! Get away! He already got Lovi! Find help and warn the others, before it's too lat-"

"No" Emil gasped and stumbled backwards, too shocked to think clearly. He turned and saw how "Antonio" had already stood up, the book now laying on the ground, and was slowly walking towards him. As Emil realised that he knew that he knew, he ran towards the door. But he didn't get far. Just as he entered the hallway he felt an arm close around him and a hand getting pressed against his mouth to muffle his startled scream.

"Youngsters nowadays just can't mind their own business, can they?"

.

"Hello?" Arthur sat up in the bed with his phone to his ear. He looked at the clock, it was already 3.30 am. He had had a hard time falling asleep because of Alfreds snoring and when he finally did, he was woken up by this phone call.

"Hi, did I wake you up?" Vladimir sounded very tired but happy. "I think I've finished the first circle now! I compared their symptoms to the symbols so if I'm correct, the first layer is gone." Arthur could hear voices talking in the background. "Any change with Lukas? Is you theory accurate?"

"I don't know, I just woke up." He yawned and continued "There shouldn't be any major changes yet so I'll check tomorrow. Go get some rest now so we can solve this soon" They said their goodbyes and hung up the phones. Arthur laid back down. He was thinking that Lukas memories would return gradually as the layers were broken. Since there didn't seem to be an actual spell affecting him, maybe his memories had just gotten locked away in between all those layers. With these thoughts running through his mind, he fell asleep despite Alfred snoring right next to him.

.

Lukas sat up in the bed, panting, as the memories rushed in. The scenes were short but it was enough for him to remember him again. He saw the ocean spread out before him and felt the waves hit the sides of the boat, the smell of saltwater was evident. He turned around where he could see Berwald trying to braid Mathias hair so it wouldn't get in the way during the fight but he just wouldn't sit still. They were young, it was during one of their first raids against Arthur, and they were all prepared for battle. The image disappeared and a new one emerged. They were a little older now but not very much. They were standing on the beach were three boats were lined up. It was warm, one of the boats were on fire, and he looked to the right were Berwald was giving him a very questioning look. Right, he was the one who had set the boat on fire. Again, the scenes switched and they were now sitting next to a lake fishing, though Berwald was the only one actually doing it. Mathias had fallen asleep and Lukas himself was being too distracted by poking him to actually fish. Berwald didn't mind though, he never did.

"Lukas!" Mathias voice brought him back to reality and felt how Mathias was grabbing his arms to steady him.

"I remember him" He looked towards where he knew Mathias would be "Berwald, I remember him" Lukas loosened the grip he hadn't realised until now that he was holding on Mathias shirt. He heard a soft gasp escape his lips.

"What do you remember?" He sounded calm but excited and his grip tightened slightly.

"I think it was during our viking days, when it was just the three of us." Lukas felt how Mathias loosened his grip and finally let go completely. "I saw images"

"But why now? There wasn't anything to trigger it!"

"I don't know, but I remember" He felt his way over to the lamp on the bedside table and started it so he would be able to see. But nothing happened as he hit the button. "Oh right, there's no difference" While shaking his head he leaned back again and looked towards Mathias. "Wake Emil, we should tell him about this. I know he's worried"

"That's a good idea!" Lukas heard how Mathias turned around and felt how the warmth that had been next to him disappeared. "Emil! Wake up! We got good new-" He suddenly fell silent. "Emil?"

"What is it?" Lukas felt how his stomach twisted nervously. Mathias sounded worried, confused, and that was never a good sign.

"He's not here" Lukas heard the moving of Emils blanket as Mathias investigated the bed where Emil had been sleeping earlier. "The bed is still a bit warm so he can't have been gone for too long though." His steps moved over to the bathroom where he opened the door to look inside. "He's not in here either"

"You should have knocked, just in case" Lukas stood up and reached out to feel his way through the room.

"Sorry" He felt how Mathias grabbed his hand to lead the way and he bit back his protests. This wasn't the time to let his pride get in the way, Emil was more important. "Let's go search for him okay?"

"Sounds good"

.

Emil watched as Shade paced back and forth through the room. He had introduced himself after tying him up, placing him on the bed and bringing the unconscious Lovino out of the bathroom. He had woken up pretty fast afterwards and they were both now sitting next to each other while listening to Shades conversation with Antonio. They understood it well enough, even though they could only hear one side.

"I can still work it out, I won't give up!"

"No, I can't let him go! Since he could hear you it means he's a threat!"

"What do you mean I've already lost? You just keep mocking me!"

"Can't you be quiet for just one minute? I have to think!"

"Oh so that's why you're not quiet huh? I'm the one with the upper hand! Don't get cocky with me!"

"Why are you doing this?" Emil was surprised that Lovino managed to talk. He himself was too scared to even move right now. Shade stopped in the middle of the room and looked at them. Lovino didn't get an answer, instead Shade only sat down on the edge of the bed and picked up the book laying on the floor. He opened it and moved his finger over the page.

"This was good times. We were known, we were feared." He sighed longingly as he looked at the picture.

"You were alive back then?" Emil was finally able to speak again as reality had caught up with him.

"Of course I was!" Shade looked over his shoulder and Emil flinched as he met the eyes. "We shadows never die, we only move when our former host dies. I guess you humans would call it reincarnation" He stood up to place the book on a desk placed in the corner of the room. "Can you believe my joy when I realised that my new host was a country?" It looked like he was lost in thought and he smiled slightly. "If only I could switch place with him I knew that I would get stronger than anyone else!" His smile fell and instead they saw how he got angry again "Then maybe you can understand my anger when I realised that he wasn't a mage? I wouldn't be able to do it!" He slammed a fist into the wall and whispered to himself "Calm down, Calm down"

"Why are you doing this?" Lovino repeated the question, seemingly uninterested in the story. Shade didn't listen and only continued talking.

"All this time I've had to follow this annoying guy, see him smile all day and only let it fall when he knows he's alone. Of course, I saw you, Lovino, grow up. I saw him spoil you every day, turning you into the little ungrateful brat you are now." Lovino glared at him but he didn't seem to notice. "I couldn't understand why he didn't just break you down, making you his pet would have been easy- Oh keep quiet!" Shade slammed his fist in the wall again where Antonio seemed to be furiously shouting at him. He turned towards the bed and made his way over. Emil felt himself tense as he tried to back away as far as he could, but he soon noticed that Shade wasn't aiming for him.

"Stop!" Emil shouted as Lovino was lifted in the air by his collar but he wasn't heard.

"Why, you ask but isn't it obvious?" Shade smiled but it wouldn't reach his eyes that was glowing with years of built up anger. "My plan is pretty simple. Get my revenge on Antonio, take care of anyone that can be a threat and mainly" He pushed Lovino against the wall and Emil heard how he gasped from the hit. "I'll wake up the others. This world will be one of the shadows and I will be their leader!" He dropped Lovino back onto the bed and he curled up in a ball and groaned.

"Lovino, are you okay?" Lovino was panting but other than that, he seemed fine. Emil couldn't breathe as Shade laughed like a maniac and stood up.

"The pet thing isn't too late actually…" Shade walked through the room lost in thought. Suddenly he switched his gaze towards Emil. "Now then, what should we do with you?"

.

"And he isn't here?"

"No, we haven't seen him since the meeting" Lukas heard how Tino yawned but didn't give it much thought. He had a bad feeling about Emils disappearance and he had hoped that Emil had just gone to Berwald and Tino for some reason.

"Okay, we'll check with the others too" Lukas gripped Mathias hand a bit tighter. Something was wrong and he didn't like not knowing what.

"We'll help you" He heard Berwald from somewhere below him and nodded in his direction. Lukas started walking when he felt Mathias pull him but stopped as he remembered.

"By the way, I remember you now Berwald. From our viking days" He continued to walk, not bothering to answer Tinos surprised gasp or Berwalds relieved hum. "Let's go check Francis, Elizabeta and Matthews room now. They are the closest" Mathias nodded and dragged him along, leading him through the corridors.

"We'll check Yao and Ivan!" They heard Tino shout from far behind them. Lukas threw up a hand as an answer. The only luck they had when they arrived at the hotel room was that they gained some more searchers. Soon enough, they were all gathered in the Lobby, some half awake and all of them confused.

"We only got one room left then, right?" Lukas looked where he supposed Mathias was standing and got a confirming squeeze to his hand as an answer. He turned towards the others "Could I ask you to check outside?!

"Sure, we'll search in groups" Arthur stood up and as he walked past he whispered so only Lukas could hear "Don't worry, we'll find him." The room was soon empty apart from Mathias and Lukas standing in the middle.

"Should we?"

"Let's go" Once again, Mathias led Lukas through the corridors now towards the last room, shared by Antonio and Lovino.


	24. Chapter 24: Fire or Water

**Chapter 24**

Fire or Water?

"What? Emil is missing?" Mathias watched as Antonio rubbed the sleep from his eyes, they had apparently woken him up.

"Yes, everyone is looking for him right now. You haven't seen him?" He felt Lukas grip tighten around his hand. Mathias frowned when Antonio shook his head.

"Not since the meeting, I can help you search if you want but…" He threw a worried glance back into the dark hotel room. "I don't think Lovi is feeling well"

"It's okay" Lukas nodded "You can stay and look after him, we'll handle it" Mathias glanced at Lukas. He was thinking the same Lukas was probably thinking, that they were overreacting a bit. Plus, they were already so many searching so it wouldn't make much difference if he came or not. Antonio nodded, obviously a bit relieved.

"If you're sure"

"It's fine, he can't have gone far and he'll probably be very annoyed that we freaked out like this" Mathias rubbed the back of his head. "We know he's not a kid anymore but we can't help but watch over him"

"Let's go" Lukas pulled at his hand and Mathias waved as he walked back through the corridor.

"Tell us if he visits you though!"

"Sure!" Mathias saw how Antonio yawned and made his way back into the room and turned back to once again lead Lukas. He glanced at him and noticed how he was staring straight ahead while walking fast. Mathias sighed "We'll find him"

"I know" Lukas said the words but it didn't seem like he actually believed them.

"Lukas…"

"I don't know, something feels wrong" Lukas gritted his teeth and sped up even more. He hoped more than anything that someone else would have found him by now.

.

Stop.

"We know he's not a kid anymore but we can't help but watch over him"

Come inside, please.

"Let's go" Emil heard steps disappear through the corridor and he tried to shout for them to stop. But it was no use, it was as if his voice had disappeared completely. He looked to his side where Lovino seemed to try to do the same but with the same luck as Emil.

"Tell us if he visits you though!"

"Sure!" He saw how Shade came back inside the room and sighed relieved before he smiled towards them. "That was close" The smile suddenly fell. "I have to hurry." He motioned towards them and Emil felt himself lift from the bed just as Lovino did next to him. Shade walked over to the window and looked outside for a moment before he opened it. They were on the first floor so the ground was right beneath them and without a second thought, he jumped outside. Slowly, both Emil and Lovino levitated after him through the window and then continued through the small garden onto a parking lot. Shade looked around suspiciously and flinched when a crow suddenly flew up from the bushes next to him. Both of the captives dropped to the ground and Emil heard how Lovino gasped.

"HEL-" His shout was muffled before he could even finish the word and Emil felt how his own voice disappeared again. Shade was crouching while panting heavily and looked at them angrily.

"Dammit, I lost focus" Emil saw how Shade threw his angry glare at Antonio instead before he once again turned towards the parking lot. There was only a few cars there and, apart from the crow that now had sat down on a pickup truck, there was no sign of life. With a last glance at his captives, Shade hurried towards the closest car. The door unlocked with a quick movement of his hand and with another one, the engine started. He came back to them and, instead of just levitating them, lifted them both easily. They were stuffed into the backseat, despite them both doing their best to fight back. "Stop it. You're driving me crazy". He sat into the front seat and started driving, none of them knowing to where.

"I'm so sorry" The voice was only a whisper but Emil heard it clearly. He didn't know where it came from, only from who. As they passed lamppost by lamppost Antonio was projected briefly on the seat right where Emil was sitting. Shade was far too focused on thinking out a plan and driving so he didn't hear him. "It's all my fault" Emil shook his head carefully, this wasn't Antonios fault. There was nothing he could've done about it. Antonio sighed and started talking even lower. "Listen carefully, he might seem invincible but he isn't." He was speaking fast so he could say everything he wanted before he got discovered. "He gets angry easily and when he does, he loses control of his powers. He has already passed out once because of it and I think I might-"

"Antonio!" Shade glared in the rear-view mirror. "Shut the hell up, or else-"

"Or else what? What could you possibly do that is worse than this?" Emil couldn't remember every hearing Antonio get really angry until now. He sounded surprisingly calm but beneath it was a clear tone of rage.

"You just try me, I'm not even trying to be bad yet" They continued in silence for a while though Emil could hear Shade muttering to himself. Suddenly, Emil flew forward in the backseat as the car stopped outside an old factory. It was located right outside of town an there wasn't any other houses or cars around them. You wouldn't even know it existed unless you accidentally drove right past it. Shade smiled in the mirror before he got out of the car that was still running, it seemed like they wouldn't stay for long. The door opened and Emil could only watch as Shade easily picked Lovino out and carried him away, towards the building. "Remember to say goodbye!" He threw a smiling glance back at the car.

"This will be the last time you see each other"

.

"Anyone?" Tino bit his lip as the nations shook their heads. They had regrouped outside of the hotel again after checking the closest area, both outside and inside buildings. "Then we have to expand! Oh no, what if something has happened. What if he was taken? What if he's hurt! I mean anything could happen to him if-"

"Tino" Berwald shook his head at him and nodded towards Lukas and Mathias that had been searching with them for the last hour. They were standing next to each other, looking like parents that just lost their child during a picnic in the forest. Worried, not knowing if something had happened or not, while trying to believe that he would be found soon. Lukas was grasping Mathias hand as if his life depended on it and Mathias seemed like he wanted to run around and scream Emils name over and over again. Tino realised his mistake and got quiet again.

"I'll go search from the air" Elizabeta nodded towards the group.

"Great idea, That way we can cover much more ground." Arthur nodded approvingly but soon, he frowned instead. "Though we can't let you go alone, it's too dangerous."

"Then, what if Ivan go with her? Both can fly so it would be fine right?" Francis pointed towards Yao which had Ivan sitting on his shoulder looking really down. "Ivan! What's wrong?"

"Nothing" He turned his back towards them and hid in Yaos long hair.

"He's lost a lot of strength because of the spell so he's feeling a bit down" Yao flinched as Ivan pulled at his hair. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Ivan, just let it go and help us out here." Arthur was too tired for this. Refusing to say anything, Ivan stood up and flew over to Elizabeta to sit on her shoulder. "I'll take that as a yes" Elizabeta nodded towards them before she spread her wings and quickly lifted high up in the air.

"How about the rest of us divide into three groups? One with Berwald, one with Tino and one with me and Lukas since we're the ones that actually knows our way around this place." Mathias looked around and smiled a bit when the nations nodded approvingly. "Then, who will go with who?"

In the end Tino walked away with Yao, Matthew, Francis and Kiku in one direction and Berwald only got Ludwig and Feliciano with him. A small group for a small man as Mathias expressed it. Himself and Lukas walked towards the center of the town with Alfred and Arthur right behind them. "Don't worry" Mathias looked down at Lukas that was whispering to himself.

"I'll find you"

.

Why was everything going wrong?

Shade slammed the door as he sat back down into the car and drove off. He felt like he was going to explode and Emil must have noticed since he saw him back away as far as he could. "Fine, you can talk" He waved dismissively with his hand and felt relief as the spell he had put on Emil stopped draining his energy. He heard a faint gasp as Emil regained his voice and waited for the screaming, the panic, the begging and the pleased feeling he'd get from it. Then maybe he'd be able to calm down again.

"What did you do with Lovino?" Shade felt how his grip around the steering wheel tightened. This kid, why was he so calm? This wasn't what he wanted to hear. He looked back at Emil and, sure, he looked terrified but there was something in his eyes saying that he would never stop fighting.

"Doesn't matter, it's just too much trouble bringing both of you along" He turned to the right onto a small forest road. He had memorised a map of the town before they arrived in case of something like this happening.

"What…what are you planning for me?" There it was, the slight fear in his voice Shade was longing for. He laughed in relief as he turned onto another road.

"You do know that us nations heal much quicker than humans? It's very hard to kill one indee-"

"You're not a nation, you're a fake, Antonio is the real one" The defying tone was back and Shade tried to push back his irritation at being interrupted. He took a deep breath and continued while pretending not to notice Emils comment.

"Even though we very rarely can get killed by weapons or force, there are some things that are sure to take us out." He smiled in the mirror "Fire and water" Shade turned the car once again "Think about it. A fire can take out towns and forests, basically anything that comes in its path. Everything is just, gone!" He seemed amused at the thought "Water can drown anything, floods destroy lives all the time. The water level keeps rising and eventually everything will be lost." He chuckled and saw how Emil was barely breathing as he stared at him.

"What are you-"

"Though you are quite troublesome" Now it was Shades turn to interrupt. "Because of all your volcanic activity, there's a high possibility fire wouldn't hurt you so bad" He turned the car one last time and started slowing down. "That's why we're here" He stopped the car behind one of the sheds at a small private harbor.

.

"Do you really think he could've gotten this far?" Feliciano looked down at Ludwig that nodded at him.

"If he was taken…" He didn't finish the sentence, didn't want to think about it. If it really was Gilbert doing this he didn't know what he would do. The three of them were walking towards the edge of the town while looking through every alley and empty shed they passed but they hadn't seen any sign of Emil. Ludwig suddenly stopped and turned around. "Where's Berwald?" Just as he said it Berwald rounded a corner, jogging a bit to catch up with them.

"Did we walk too fast?" Feliciano crouched down as Berwald caught up and stood panting next to them.

"It's...fine… short legs…" He managed to calm his breath enough to finally look up at them. "Let's keep moving" Before he had gotten far he was lifted by Feliciano and placed on his back.

"Feliciano!" Ludwig looked at him.

"But it will go faster this way and he looked tired, I couldn't help it!" He pouted and glanced back. "It's fine right?"

"Mm" Berwald blushed a bit. He didn't actually like being carried like this, but Feliciano had a point. It would go much faster like this and to be honest, he was really tired. Ludwig sighed and turned forward again.

"Fine, where to next?"

"We're almost out of town" Berwald frowned "There isn't much after that but forests"

"Well, we should check it out anyway, just in case." Ludwig started walking. "Come on"

"Let's go!" Feliciano followed closely behind. They continued to search everywhere they went but soon they saw how the houses disappeared and left them in front of a forest. A path showed their way through it and with little hesitation, they started walking.

"Where does this lead to?" Ludwig looked back at the two, mainly at Berwald.

"It only leads to the ocean and some cabins. There isn't much besides…" Berwald suddenly got quiet and frowned. There was one other place that he could think of. He didn't even notice Feliciano stop next to Ludwig that was waiting for him to continue.

"Besides?"

"There's this old factory. Really desolate." He looked up at Ludwig "It's old, very few knows about it"

"That might be it" Ludwig nodded in agreeance. "Let's hurry, you lead the way" They started off in a jog, all nervous about what they were going to find when they arrived.


	25. Chapter 25: Someone save him

**TW: Drowning (Just in case, keep safe!)**

 **Chapter 25**

Someone save him

Anything, anything sharp would do. Emil fought against the ropes while he looked for something to cut it with. He felt himself shudder, the cool wind blew past them as the stolen boat went further and further away from shore. A sudden wave caused the boat to bounce and Emil was thrown down onto the floor. He hit his head and for a moment he only saw stars. Something warm and wet ran down his temple and it didn't take him long to figure out that it was blood. "Ow…"

"Don't worry, you won't feel it for long" He glanced at Shade that was steering the boat with a focused stare. Emil sat up and groaned as his head spun.

"Why are you doing this?" He tried to breathe normally but it was hard as he was terrified.

"I already told you; to get revenge, to wake the others and-"

"I mean, why won't you let me go?" Shade stared down at him with a smile.

"You're a threat."

"How? I'm weak, I can't fight. You overpowered me easily." Emil felt embarrassed to admit it but it was his only hope. If he could only reason with him then maybe he'll change his mind. After all, Emil would rather be a prisoner than…

"Hmm. I guess it wouldn't hurt explaining." Emil felt like his heart would jump out of his chest as the boat slowed down and eventually stopped. Shade sighed and sat down next to him before he started. "Let's say it like this, you could hear Antonio. Do you know why?" Emil shook his head and tried to move as far away as possible. Shade looked thoughtful for a moment. "There's very few people able to do that, especially in the time we're living in now." He leaned back and looked up at the sky "I was planning on taking care of the three that would be able too but, since Alfred failed, it didn't work out"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't get it?" Shade grinned and leaned in closely to whisper in his ear. "The only ones able to hear Antonio are mages. Arthur, Vladimir, Lukas and apparently you." He leaned back again and stood up. "I'll get rid of you before you've learned how to use it, then I'll take care of your weakened brother, Arthur shouldn't be a problem if he's alone and the same goes for Vladimir" He chuckled before he added "Then there will be no one with the power to stop me."

"Leave Lukas alone!" Emil took a deep breath, he hadn't realised that he had been holding it. Now he was only angry, he'd forgotten all about what was about to happen. Shade frowned and walked up to him, grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him in the air.

"You don't have the power to tell me what to do, you said it yourself, you're weak. You're nothing." He moved to the edge of the boat and held Emil above the water. Emil only stared at him, his anger bigger than it ever had been. He felt like he was boiling from the inside.

"It doesn't matter what you do to me. You will not win. My brother will stop you, Mathias will stop you, Arthur will, they all will. There's nothing you can do to win!" At the last word, Emil felt his anger reach its peak and the heath filled him completely. He saw chock in Shades eyes as he took a startled step backwards and dropped Emil back into the boat.

"Damn you" Shade stared at his right hand for a moment before he once again turned to Emil. He walked over and lifted him with one hand. "If you had just behaved, you would've been one of few who lived. I liked you. I would keep you for myself, but now…"

"Stop" As he was let go of, Emil took a deep breath.

"You're too much trouble" They cold water almost knocked the air out of his lungs and he struggled to reach the surface again. Something pulled at his feet, dragging him deeper into the ocean, and when he looked down he could see the boats anchor tied to his feet. He didn't know when it had gotten there, but didn't matter. If he didn't escape, he wouldn't be able to warn anyone. But the rope wouldn't loosen and he couldn't hold his breath much longer. Finally, the panic caught up with him and he couldn't think anymore. He struggled even more and felt his energy focus on his tied up parts. Suddenly, it was gone. The ropes weren't there anymore. He didn't stop to wonder how he got free, instead he focused on getting up since he had lost all his air while panicking. He tried to move his arms and legs to swim upwards.

They wouldn't move.

Emil tried again but he was like paralysed. Even though he was free from the anchor, he kept sinking while still unable to move and he felt his consciousness drift away. He saw a black shape coming towards him and soon the darkness swallowed him up completely.

.

"Is this it?" Feliciano looked back at Berwald that nodded. They were standing in front of a big, very old, factory.

"Great…Just…wait…" Ludwig was leaning against a tree and tried to regain his breath.

"I told you it would be easier to run if we chased you-"

"I don't want to be chased!" Ludwig frowned while Feliciano chuckled and let Berwald down on the ground. He walked over to Ludwig and patted his head.

"You just got to get used to it!" He smiled brightly. "My body just works that way!"

"Let's just move on" He waved dismissively with his hand. They walked up to the big door while carefully looking around for either Emil or dangers. "Do you think it's locked?"

"Let's check!" Feliciano reached out a hand to pull down the handle but as he did, a shock was sent through his body and he was thrown back.

"Feliciano!" The two of them hurried over and crouched down next to him. It only took him a minute before he regained his consciousness.

"Ow, Is this heaven?" He sat up and located himself again. "Oh right, I'm here"

"Are you all right?" Feliciano nodded and stood up again, still a bit unsteady.

"Well…" They looked down at Berwald. "Now we know that something is in there." He picked up a rock and threw it at the door. It met a similar faith as Feliciano had and bounced off with an electrified buzz. "Now we just have to find a way in."

.

"Damn it! Damn it all! This fucking hurts!" Shade sat down in the boat that was now laying docked at the harbor. It didn't matter what healing spell he tried, his right hand was still just as burnt as it had gotten when Emil had his outburst. He tried putting it down in the water and sighed in relief as it cooled down. Maybe it would heal if he just treated it like a normal wound. He tried to ignore Antonio that had been crying and screaming at him ever since they dropped Emil off.

"How could you do this? You just… Why?! I'll never…" Shade stood up and managed to climb out with one hand but changed his mind and climbed back in. After a bit of searching he found a first aid kit carefully secured under a seat. He had had years of watching Antonio treat both his own and others wounds so this shouldn't be too hard. It took a great deal of struggling, and time, but he managed to treat the burn and wrap it in a clean bandage.

"I think that's right" He shrugged and got out the boat again. He wasn't used to injury or fatigue, nor was he used to feeling tired or hungry. Shade made his way back to the car a bit carelessly but there wasn't anyone nearby at this time. His hand stung as he walked and he sighed in relief. It had been right to get rid of Emil. If he had gotten to develop his powers he would have become just as big of a threat as the other three. Maybe even bigger. Magic was always more powerful when they were younger and would only grow weaker as you grew older. A cool wind blew through the car as he opened the door and got in. He gripped the steering wheel without thinking and flinched when the pain spread from his hand through his arm for a moment. "Ow, damn it!" He gritted his teeth and started the car, it was about half an hour drive back to where Lovino was hidden and he had to get back and make up a plan before the rest of the nations woke up.

.

"Hey, Antoni-"

"Wait" Ivan held up a hand to Elizabeta that quickly quieted down. "Something is wrong" They hovered in the air just above the treetops and watched as Antonio climbed out of the boat. He had just finished up wrapping his hand in a bandage and looked completely lost in thought as he made his way towards a shed. "Why would he be here?"

"Let's just go ask him?" Ivan reached out a hand to stop her and made a quick decision.

"No, you go find the others. I'll follow him." Elizabeta frowned, she didn't like getting ordered around, but nodded and flew off towards the town. Ivan quickly made his way through the air and followed as Antonio made his way around the shed. He finally noticed what was wrong. Antonios face was filled with rage and it looked like his eyes were burning, it was an expression he had never seen on his face before. Instinctively, Ivan quickly made his way over as he opened the door. A strong, cold, wind blew him right inside and he was lucky enough to not get noticed.

"Ow, damn it!" Ivan heard Antonio groan as he placed himself behind the driver seat where he wouldn't get noticed. The car started and they drove off, Ivan flinched as Antonio started speaking. "Stop crying! I didn't have much choice!" Ivan sighed as he realised he hadn't gotten noticed, though he was quite confused about who he could be talking to. Antonio started mumbling to himself. "Now I'll go check on Lovino, then I'll lure Arthur out to meet me alone and he'll be out of the way. Taking out Lukas shouldn't be a problem considering his current state. Then it's only Vladimir left." Ivan held his breath as Antonio repeated it over and over again until he suddenly stopped to shout "Antonio! Shut up!"

"What?" Ivan couldn't help but whisper. Luckily, the sound from the engine drowned his words and he wasn't noticed. Get people out of the way? Screaming at himself? The crazy look and the burning eyes, nothing was like the Antonio he knew. Ivan clenched his fists, he didn't like not being able to do anything. If this would have been any other day he wouldn't have had to hide and he would easily have gotten the answers he needed. He realised that if this would've been any other day he wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place. Antonio suddenly stepped on the brakes and stooped the car. He turned around and stared into the backseat.

"If you don't shut up I'll hurt more people than only those three" He looked around for a moment before he smiled. "Good Antonio, you listened for once." That's when Ivan saw it. In the backseat, Antonios shadow was projected holding his hands over his mouth while it shook as if to keep himself from screaming out loud. "You should be happy you know, you're the only one I can't touch" Ivan could almost hear the smile that spread across "Antonios" face. "Though, I can still hurt you." Ivan shook his head. How could Antonio have let this happen? He held on to the seat as the car drove through the forest towards an unknown destination.

.

"We're almost back at the hotel!"

"We'll just go another way then"

"There's no use! He could be anywhere!"

"Now, now. Let's calm down" Tino tried to turn their focus back on the search but they were all tired and easily annoyed. They had been walking in a circle to search through the most unused roads and alleyways in town. Now they had ended up in a parking lot not far from the hotel, there wasn't any people around and only a few cars stood parked. The wind had started picking up and a chill ran through the group as they felt the cool air.

"It's pretty cold here" Francis rubbed his bare arms and damned this spell for not letting him wear something warmer. Just as that thought passed his mind, the edges of his rags started glowing. It grew and shaped itself until it also covered his arms, giving him something like a long sleeved tunic. The others stared while Francis just looked at it. It was, according to him, still just as ugly as before. He blinked and looked up. "You know what, I'm way too tired to react right now"

"Well, at least it's warmer right?" Tino chuckled and was soon joined by Yao. Francis rolled his eyes and picked up Matthew from the ground. Suddenly, Tino felt something pull at his hair. "What are you-"

"It'll only get in the way like that. There we go." Yao backed away and nodded, pleased with his work.

"Oh! I can see again!" Tino moved his hand to feel the short ponytail and sighed. He hadn't even noticed how bothered he'd been by the hair blowing in his face. "Thank you! Now I can-"

"Wait a minute! Where's Kiku?" Tino was interrupted by Francis that looked around.

"He was here a minute ago!" Yao turned to scan the parking lot and it didn't take long before he found him. "Oh, he's over there."

"Why did he stop?" Tino only got shrugs for answers and they jogged over to him. As they closed in, they could hear him speaking to someone but they couldn't see who since he was standing behind a pickup truck.

"It sure sounds like them but, are you sure?" Kiku seemed to be looking down at the ground. "Okay, where did they go?"

"What are you doing?" Yao was the first one to reach him. As he turned the corner he sighed as he couldn't see anyone there. "I see, you have finally lost your mind"

"I have not! He said he had some information so I stopped. And what do you mean by finally?" Yao was just about to answer as a crow jumped out from behind the wheel.

.

"kas!"

Huh? What was that?

"ukas!"

Gilbert turned around. He didn't understand how a voice could be heard underwater and decided that he might just be going mad. After all, he had been swimming for hours and had barely slept at all. He shrugged and kept going but just as he did, he heard another sound. The sound of an engine starting. Quickly, he followed the sound. If he followed the boat he would soon be back on land right? He had gotten quite good at swimming like this and it only took him a few minutes before he saw the boat that had just started moving. He smiled, finally he would find land again! Just as he started swimming towards the boat, something else caught his eye. For a moment he didn't dare to turn around. When he did, it only took him a second before he was next to the boy floating unconsciously in the water.

"Emil…?"


	26. Chapter 26: I got your back

**Chapter 26**

I got your back

"Hey kid! Wake up!"

Is this what death feels like? Burning lungs and a hurting body?

"Oh, what should I do, I don't know…"

But who was there with him? Why was he so worried?

"Please don't die…"

Emil suddenly sat and ended up in a coughing fit. For a while, he just sat there and tried to regain his senses. He focused on the sand between his fingers and on the waves that he could hear hitting the shore. The smell of saltwater was everywhere and his mouth was dry, lastly he could finally see again. "What happ-" He was pulled into a crushing hug before he could finish his sentence.

"Oh, I was so worried! First you threw up a bunch of water and then you wouldn't wake up but you were breathing so I didn't know what to do and…" Emil had a hard time focusing on everything Gilbert was saying since his eyes were drawn to the tail connecting to his hip. It shifted in different shades of silver with flecks of pink and purple. That explained why Gilbert had been gone for so long at least. Soon enough, Emil was let go off and could finally ask him.

"What happened?" Gilbert gave him a look of I-would-like-to-know-that-too but told his part anyway.

"Well, I'll spare you the details but, through some turns of faith, I ended up in the middle of the ocean. But since it's me I totally knew where I should go" Emil gave him a doubting glance but Gilbert didn't seem notice "Then I hear this sound, sounded like ukas or something, so I go there and find you!" Gilbert looked thoughtful for a moment. "By the way, why didn't you just swim to the surface?" He had to repeat the question since Emil was still stuck on the fact that the last thing he had been doing was screaming for his brother. Pathetic. "Hey, you listening?"

"Oh, well. I couldn't"

"You can't swim?"

"Of course I can swim! Just, couldn't move" Emil sighed and looked around. They seemed to be on an island but Emil could easily make out the Danish mainland if he looked towards the horizon. How Gilbert could've missed it was a mystery.

"Okay then. Now…" Gilbert turned towards Emil and grabbed his arms to stare at him intensively.

"What are you-"

"WHAT IS GOING ON?"

.

"Good luck"

"You can do it! We believe in you!" Feliciano waved at him but Berwald only sighed and crawled further into the old and dusty air vents. After walking around the building and concluded that it was only the doors that were enchanted they had looked for an alternate way in. It had been Ludwigs idea to use the vents but, of course, it was only Berwald that could fit. The plan was to see if he could open the door from the inside, if he couldn't, he'd promised to climb out again. It was too dangerous to make any moves on his own. He couldn't help but cough as dust whirled up around him, the vents hadn't been used in years. He felt grateful that he wasn't claustrophobic. Though there was another problem.

"What's wrong?" The two waiting nations had reacted to his startled yelp.

"Nothing, it's fine" Berwald couldn't move. In front of him hanged a spider, blocking his path. He felt himself back away slowly but managed to stop himself. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath which resulted in another coughing fit. Emil might be here and he would not let some silly fear stop him. Besides, he suddenly realised, the vent was probably filled by spiders anyway. The thought drained the remaining colour from his face and made him set of in a fast paced crawl with his eyes closed. Soon enough, he felt how his hands no longer hit anything but air and he fell through a hole. He should've expected it considering that the vent was so old but he'd been occupied focusing on other things.

"How's it going?" Berwald heard Felicianos voice from the vent above him. He didn't bother to answer since he now could see the front door. Luckily, he had fallen through close by. After throwing a rock at it to see if it was safe, he jumped to reach the handle and opened it.

"It worked" Ludwig seemed relieved for a second before he got serious again. "We have to be careful"

"Okay! Let's search this now!" Feliciano skipped by them both into the building.

"Feliciano! You're too loud" Ludwig was whispering but it was loud enough to echo off the walls.

"Sorry" He crouched down next to Berwald "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Berwald only nodded while he regained his composure. He didn't like spiders, never had, but he couldn't kill them either. They hadn't actually done anything except being scary. Feliciano shrugged and stood up. "Where should we start?"

"Maybe we should split up? As long as we stay within hearing distance of each other we should be fine" Ludwig nodded at himself "That way we'll cover more ground faster."

"Sounds good! Then I'll go this way!" Ludwig stopped him before Feliciano had gotten far. He looked down on the ground and whispered something. "What?"

"Just, be careful" Feliciano turned and smiled at him.

"Don't worry! You'll get your body back unharmed!" He walked away to search through the closest room which made him unable to hear Ludwigs answer.

"It's not that I'm worried about" He looked over at Berwald "What are you smirking at?"

"Nothing" Berwald walked away towards the next room and left the blushing Ludwig alone.

"Sure, nothing" Ludwig got the third room which was the middle one. Just as he was about to open the door he noticed something odd. The doorhandle wasn't dusty and there were markings on the floor suggesting that the door had recently been opened. He considered shouting for the others but didn't want to alert anyone inside, then again their loud entrance had probably made them known already. After thinking back and forth about it, considering possible hostage situations and possibility of success, he decided to go inside alone. With caution, he opened the door and was met by a wide room that had probably been used as storage. A single pillar stood in its centre and was keeping the roof from caving in over them. He could see a track starting at the door leading to the pillar but he still looked around as he made his way over, he didn't know when or from where something could attack.

"Mmhm!" A muffled voice was heard as he closed in and Ludwig could feel his heart beat faster. But as he rounded the pillar the confusion that settled within him caused him to suddenly freeze and drop his guard completely. Instead of Emil they had been looking for, he had found Lovino. He was hanging by his wrists that where tied together just as his ankles was. His mouth was covered with a big piece of duct tape and, for some reason, his clothes were ripped in some places. "Mh!" Ludwig had finally processed what he was seeing.

"I'm sorry about this" Quickly, he ripped the tape off. There was no time for being careful.

"DAMN IT! THAT HURT YOU BASTARD!"

"Listen, are you alone?"

"…of course it has to be you who found me considering my luck…"

"Hey!"

"Yea! I'm alone, get me down already!"

"In here!" Ludwig shouted for the others even though Lovinos scream had already brought them to the room.

.

"No way" Shade opened the door to the crashed car. "This can't be" He fought to regain control of his temper. Everything. Everything was going wrong. While he was driving, he had suddenly felt the spell he'd put on the door to keep people away from Lovino get activated. He'd stepped on the gas but as he felt the spell disappear only 10 minutes later he lost it. The car had gone off the road but that didn't matter right now. Either Lovino had gotten out on his own, which was highly unlikely, or someone had gotten inside. That had to be it since the spell had activated in the first place. "It's okay, It's okay" He started running along the road "I can make it, I will make it" If Lovino got out, everyone would be warned and his plans could fail.

"I won't let you escape"

.

"Lovi! What happened? Are you okay? Have you been crying? Let me help you-"

"I can take care of myself" Lovino ignored his brother and stood on unsteady legs while he shook his numb hands to get the blood flowing again. The ropes had been cut and questions had been asked but Lovino had other priorities right now. "We have to get going" He took a step and almost fell over but was caught by Feliciano.

"No! You have to rest first!" Lovino got back on his feet again and clenched his fist. He turned and looked at them with an angry, which was normal, and serious, which was not normal, expression.

"I can feel it. If we don't leave now, we have no future."

"But Lovi what-"

"Let's go then, Feliciano you carry your brother" Ludwig picked Berwald up and headed for the exit. "We can ask questions later, now we'll have to trust him" Ludwig ignored Lovino as he muttered something about 'first thing he's ever done right' and instead focused on his surroundings. He fought to follow his own advice and wait with his questions. But it was hard. He wanted to know if it was Gilbert doing this or if it was someone else. He felt something clench his arm so he looked down to find Berwald seemingly lost in thought and obviously worried.

"Emil…"

"Just wait a little longer" Ludwig glanced back at Lovino that urged his brother to go faster. "He has to have some answers" The door easily opened and they made their way to the road again.

"We've to go back to the town." Lovino glared at Ludwig that gave him a look searching for answers "I'll explain on the way" To the others, it sounded like Lovino could help them but he, himself, could only feel his heart pounding and his head spinning. He didn't know what happened to Emil, he didn't know where Shade had gone, he couldn't control what he saw. All he knew was that they had to get away, right now. He grabbed onto Feliciano a bit tighter and whished for Emil to be safe.

.

"Quickly, we have to find the others!"

"Wait up! What did that bird tell you?" Tinos group made their way towards the hotel again.

"I'll tell you soon, does anyone have a phone?" Kiku looked back at the confused people following him as they shook their heads. They had all woken up and gotten dragged out so suddenly that neither of them had remembered to bring one. "Then we'll have to find them quickly."

"What did it tell you?" The group slowed down and Kiku sighed deeply.

"It told me what it saw earlier tonight. To quote it:" They passed the hotel and turned onto the road Lukas group had followed earlier "A handsome young man jumped out the hotel window followed by two young boys floating in the air, both seemingly held against their will."

"What does that even mean?"

"Think about it. Who is the only one not searching with us, had a room at the bottom floor and, if he caught Emil, would have two young boys in his possession?" The group suddenly stopped as they realised.

"But he wouldn't…"

"They checked there right?"

"That can't be"

"Enough!" Tino walked calmly through the group but they felt that something was off with him. "Even if it is him, if he hurt Emil he will meet a faith worse than death" They could easily see now what was off. Tino was mad, madder than ever before. The smile was gone and he was emitting an energy which made the others take multiple steps back. "We have to find Lukas and Mathias. They'll need to know" The others followed him on a safe distance as he set of in a jog. He stared intensively in front of him. "I'll find you and if you've hurt him, I'll hurt you too." His feet hit the ground a bit faster.

"Antonio…"

.

"That seems unnecessarily complicated if you ask me"

"Well, I didn't make the spell. Lukas did."

"At least this thing makes sense now" Gilbert waved a bit with his fin. "Though, the Antonio problem is pretty serious"

"Yes, that's why we have to get back" Emil stood up and wobbled a bit, still a bit unsteady both from the hit to his head and almost drowning. He started walking but hadn't gone far before his foot got grabbed and he fell. As he looked back he could see that it was indeed Gilbert that had tripped him. "What are you-"

"You rest for a while. I'll look around the island, it'll go much faster and you won't have to exert yourself" Emil wanted to protest but could see in Gilberts eyes that he didn't have a choice. Instead he sat up, crossed his arms and pouted.

"Fine, you better be quick" Gilbert smiled at him before he threw himself back into the ocean. Emil watched as he did a few jumps just to show off before he disappeared to make a lap around the island. Emil spent the time waiting with thinking over his situation. He was alive, he was free from that person and he had someone here that would help him. Emil looked down at his hands. What had happened back there? It seemed like Shade had gotten hurt when he'd dropped him into the boat and then under the water, where had the ropes gone? The things he had said too that he, Emil, was a mage? Emil couldn't make any sense of it. He decided to focus on getting back for now to warn the others and he knew that they had to hurry. In less than 5 minutes, Gilbert came back and crawled up on the beach.

"Well, there was a cabin on the other side of the island but no one seemed to be home and they didn't have a boat" Gilbert noticed how Emil got even more worried even though it should be impossible to be.

"There has to be another way"

"Well…" Gilbert glanced at him "I could always carry you"

"What?"

"Carry you" He pointed towards the mainland "On my back" He pointed at himself "I'm pretty fast but it's quite cold in the water" Emil stared at him like he was crazy but started to think it over. Right now there wasn't much else to do, time was of the essence here.

"Let's do it"

"You sure?"

"Yes just… tell me were to grab on." Emil looked away, a bit embarrassed.

"Just get on my back, like when someone is giving you a piggyback ride! Also, how long can you hold your breath?" Gilbert wanted to know so he wouldn't drown Emil right after saving him.

"2 minutes and 40 seconds" Emil sighed as he got a very surprised look from Gilbert. He could be so specific since they had competed at holding their breaths during a visit to the beach. Mathias often came up with different kinds of competitions that they all took part in, mostly to make him happy. Though, most of the times it ended with Mathias and Berwald both refusing to lose and almost always doing something stupid. Emil shook his head and returned to reality. "Let's go then"

"One more thing" Gilbert looked him over and nodded "take your shirt off"

"What?"

"It's too heavy, it'll slow us down! I noticed it when I dragged you here in the first place!" Emil still didn't move, he only looked away while he grew even redder. "We don't have time for this, I'll do it for you if you don't-"

"Okay fine! Just…Try not to look okay?" Gilbert chuckled but nodded and turned towards the water while he waited.

"I don't get what you're so nervous about"

"I don't have any muscles or anything like you, it's embarrassing." Gilbert felt Emil wrap his arms around him. "Let's go already"

"Hold on tight!" They entered the water again and Emil felt the cold hit him. For a moment, he felt the panic again. He was disoriented, didn't know where to go to get air. But then he heard a voice. "4, 5, 6, 7, 8" Gilbert counted loudly as they shot through the water. That's right. Emil relaxed as he remembered. He was not alone anymore.


	27. Chapter 27: Make a Wish

**Chapter 27**

Make a Wish

"No" Shade fell down on his knees to pick up the pieces of rope laying on the ground. "This can't be" He had already figured out that something like this had probably happened when he had arrived and seen the door wide open. As he looked around in the room he could see multiple footprints in the dust that had recently settled again on the floor. Antonio still kept quiet but Shade could feel the relief that radiated from him. He stood up and leaned against the pillar while he rested his head in his hands. Everything was falling apart. Lovino knew too much to be allowed to run around freely. "I can fix this… I can fix… I…" Shade was breathing heavily and fought hard to not lose control. He got back on his feet and walked out the door and took a few deep breaths. The air calmed him down a bit and he could focus again. To make up a new plan.

He could easily increase his speed and catch up to Lovino if he wanted to, but considering the many footprints it didn't seem like he would be alone. There was too big of a risk that he would be caught. Also, he couldn't waste any more energy on silly spells like that. He looked up and down the road, if he was correct, there was a high possibility that Lovino and whoever he was with would've followed him to save Emil. They were probably taking a shortcut through the forest towards the harbor since Lovino would have seen Emil falling into the water. That meant that the rest of the nations should be split up all over town searching for Emil. He looked at the sky that was slowly getting lighter as the sun rose in the horizon. He still had time. Shade sat of in a jog towards the town with a plan forming in his head. A smile spread across his face.

"It's not too late"

.

Ivan followed him at a safe distance as "Antonio" entered the building. He wasn't noticed at all as he saw the small breakdown in the room with the pillar and as they left the building he could easily follow. When they got out again, Ivan had a decision to make. He could keep following this person to see what he was up to but since he couldn't do anything he didn't see the point. If he instead hurried back to town and told the others they could gather together and fight him. Ivan didn't really like that option either since that meant he had to admit to needing help. Still, as he saw whoever-it-was starting off in a jog towards the town, he decided on the latter option. The wind was picking up but Ivan managed to pass the person below him and slowly but steadily increase the distance between them. He could see the town from up here but it was still quite a distance to go.

"I wish I could go faster" A tingling sensation spread through his body and before he knew it, a wand appeared in his hand. Something sparkly flew out of the end and surrounded him for a moment before he shot through the air, twice as fast as before. He stopped and stared at the slightly glowing thing in his hand. "For real?" He looked around, a bit embarrassed about what he was about to do, and waved around it for a moment. "I wish I got my normal body back" Once again, sparks flew out from the wand but instead of surrounding him it wrote a message in the air.

"Whishing rules:  
1\. Only one whish per day.  
2\. You can not wish for death of another living creature.  
3\. Your wish can not break other types of magic.  
4\. The wand can refuse to grant your whish.  
5\. Be polite"

"What kind of rules are these?" Ivan looked down at the wand that was slowly heating up and he noticed how the sparkles shifted to form new words.

"My rules" He looked at the wand again, it seemed like it had a mind of its own.

"They doesn't make any sense" The words shifted again.

"That's your problem, not mine" Ivan had to blink a few times as he reread it multiple times. Then he smiled and clenched his fist around the small handle.

"Didn't you just break your own rule? I don't like when people – or things – are rude to me" He knew that anyone would have backed off by now, it would be instinctive to apologise and listen when they pissed him of. The words shifted again.

"I do what I want" So childish! He tried to snap it in half but the wand disappeared.

"Oh, so you are scared." Ivan looked around but couldn't see it anywhere. "Figured" He saw how the words changed again but not to anything Ivan wanted.

"I make the rules so you have to listen to me" Before Ivan could answer something about throwing a certain stick into a fire a new sentence was shown. "You asked for speed right? Doesn't that mean you're in a hurry?"

"Right" Ivan looked down and saw that he had been passed. He damned himself for getting distracted and once again, he started moving towards the town. The words stayed floating in the air behind him for a moment before the disappeared. Ivan sighed, a bit relieved. He finally got rid of that cocky wand. "I'll deal with it later" he muttered to himself as he shot through the air. At this speed he would be back within 10 minutes.

"One last thing" The small voice surprised him enough to almost fall out of the air.

"You can talk?"

"Of course, A little slow are we?"

"Get out here so we can… have a nice little conversation, okay?"

"No, no. I just wanted to do one last thing before going back to sleep" The sparkles surrounded him again and he couldn't see anything. "Just a little whish of my own"

.

"5 minutes! No more!" Lovino slid of Felicianos back and sat down. Feliciano joined him on the ground, seemingly unbothered by the running. Ludwig almost collapsed next to him with Berwald still in his grip.

"So" He managed to say while regaining his breath "What's going on?" They all turned to look at Lovino that refused to look back at them while he tried to figure out what to say. He glanced at Berwald for a second. How was he supposed to tell them that Shade had taken Emil and was probably planning to hurt him? Lovino didn't know what to do, right now they were only running away from their problems but they wouldn't stand a chance if they confronted him.

"Lovi…" Feliciano patted his back. "Is it Antonio?"

"No!" Lovinos eyes shot open for a moment before they were filled with something similar to defeat. "But yes" He shook his head "It's him but not him"

"What do you me-"

"Emil, what about Emil?" Berwald was suddenly very close to Lovino and stared at him intensively. Lovino tried to look away but couldn't.

"Emil is…" He didn't know what to say, he didn't know where Emil was or what had happened. "He got Emil" Lovino saw how a mix of despair and anger quickly filled Berwald. They had a stare down for a moment before Berwald backed off and started walking back the same way they had just ran.

"Wait!"

"Berwald, we can not win this fight!"

"You all go back, I'll get Emil" Berwald didn't stop. Somewhere he knew that he would not win against anyone when he was like this but he couldn't think clearly. All that ran through his head was the image of Lovino hanging from the wall. The same person had Emil. Unforgivable.

"I can't let you go" Ludwig suddenly stood in front of him with his hands reached out to block his path. "You're walking towards a powerful enemy we know nothing about"

"Doesn't matter."

"We'll have to go to the others. Regroup."

"There's no time" Berwald took a deep breath and looked up at Ludwig "Move"

"What?" Ludwig felt himself move to the side and saw how Berwald passed him. He couldn't control his movements, only felt the need to comply to Berwalds demands. Suddenly, Feliciano zoomed past him and threw himself at Berwald before he could get any further. He managed to grab on to his feet which made him trip and fall.

"Don't go! If Ludwig says it's dangerous then it really is!" The look he received almost made him loose his grip but it wasn't until Berwald spoke that he actually did.

"Let go" Feliciano felt how his hands opened, he felt guilty about holding down this small child. Ludwig had regained his senses and stood in front of him again.

"We can do this a long time"

"So can I" Berwald took a deep breath again and looked up at Ludwig "Mo-"

"Move!" The shout came from above them but before they could react something crashed into Berwald and caused him to fly back, almost all the way to Lovino.

"Berwald!"

"What are you guys doing? He's almost here!" Ivan stood up on top of Berwald after his crashlanding. Ludwig and Feliciano took an instinctive step back. Ivan was mad, really mad, and they could suddenly see why.

"Ivan, what are you wearin-"

"I didn't choose this. One comment and…" Ivan shook his head "Never mind, you have to get going!" He looked behind them and added "He can't be more than 5 minutes behind"

"Who?"

"Who do you think?" Lovino stood up and stared at Ivan. He clenched his fists and started walking "Come on, we have to hurry!" He suddenly stopped and put his hands over his head before he fell down on one knee.

"Lovi!" His brother was there in seconds but he only got waved away.

"It's no use, we won't make it." Lovino blinked a few times, this was the first time he had actually seen something while he was awake. It had not been good. "I don't want to see this"

"Lovino! What did you see?" Ludwig was there too now. Lovino gave him a look of distraught which told him more than he wanted to know.

"We won't make it" Lovino closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. It had been too clear, he couldn't take it anymore. These images, it didn't matter if he was awake or not, they never showed anything good. If they ran, they would die. Lovino knew, he had seen it and he also knew that he would be the only one to survive.

"I've got an idea" Berwald seemed to have regained his senses and sat up which caused Ivan to fall down on the ground. "Also" He looked down on Ivan "Nice dress"

"Shut up"

.

"Are you okay?" Gilbert looked back at Emil that was taking deep breaths. This was the fifth time they paused so Emil could breathe and they were slowly but surely closing in to the mainland. It was still quite a while to go but he was confident they would be back within 20 minutes.

"Yes, let's go"

"No, breathe a little more first" Gilbert shook his head. Emil has pushing himself too hard, he barely took any time to recover after being underwater for so long. He got a glare as an answer and sighed "I know we need to hurry but it'll take much longer time if you pass out or something"

"I'm fine! But we need to get going!" Emil pouted when Gilbert glared back at him "They're in danger"

"Fine! Just don't put yourself in danger too" He waited for Emil to hold his breath before he once again shot through the water. It went much slower with Emil on his back than when he swam alone but he was still fast. Gilbert focused on swimming and counting but somewhere he couldn't help but worry. About his brother, about the other nations and about Antonio. He hadn't been there when all of this happened but none of that mattered, he was on his way now and he was going to save them.

.

"Emil!"

"Emil! Where are you?"

"EMIL!"

"If you scream all the time you won't hear him if he answers" Arthur sighed and looked at Lukas and Mathias that seemed like they could break apart any minute. It was obvious that they cared about Emil and would do anything to protect him.

"If we don't scream he won't have anything to answer" Lukas gave him a cold stare. He had only minutes ago started seeing shapes again but still depended on Mathias to get around, and probably to keep it together. At least he had started to recover. Arthur shook his head and decided to back off, he looked up the building next to him.

"Can you see anything?" Arthur saw how Alfred shook his head from the rooftop. He wondered how he'd managed to get up since there wasn't any ladders but decided to ignore that too. Their focus had to be Emil right now.

"Hey Arthur" Mathias caught his attention "Can't you do some magic thingy and just find him" Without even noticing he clenched his fists and answered, a bit angrily.

"Don't you think I've tried that?"

"Take it easy, just wondering."

"It's a stupid question"

"Stop it you two" Lukas interrupted just as Mathias was going to answer something probably extremely rude. "Emil is the priority here" He looked around as well as he could and sighed. His mind was spinning and his thoughts only repeated Emils name over and over. He couldn't think clearly. The two backed off but the tension remained.

"Lukas! Mathias! Arthur! There you are!" When he heard Tinos voice Lukas first felt relief but it quickly turned to a fear so great he almost fell over. Only Mathias hand gave him enough support to remain standing. Tino was mad, and worried. It couldn't only be heard in his voice but could also be felt in the air as he closed in. If he was mad it meant something had happened, if they had found Emil and he was alright, Tino would also have been fine.

"No"

"Lukas" Mathias called for his attention "We don't know yet" Lukas nodded and took a deep breath. He had to be prepared so he could act in anyway helpful for Emil. "Tino, what-"

"We know who it is. We know who the fucking bastard is." Lukas had to take a few more breaths. Tino was swearing. This was not good at all.


	28. Chapter 28: Don't lose focus

**Chapter 28**

Don't lose focus

"This. This is your great plan?"

"I said I had a plan. Not that it was great"

"But hiding? You, of all people, hiding?"

"I don't like it either but-"

"Be quiet you two, he'll pass any moment now!" Lovino interrupted Berwald and Ivans bickering.

"Fine" Berwald focused on watching the road. Ivans crashlanding had given him some time to at least calm down enough to think. He still wanted to run off to face Shade straight on but he knew that he wouldn't be able to win. Instead, they were now sitting in the bushes far away from the road but still close enough to watch it. They could see the path but if someone passed, they wouldn't be seen. While they waited, Lovino had explained what he knew about Antonios condition.

"Hey, let go" Berwald felt how Ludwig carefully bent open his fingers. He hadn't realised how tightly he had gripped the branches of the bush. "You'll hurt yourself" His hands bled a little, apparently the bush had thorns he hadn't noticed.

"Don't worry" The pain quickly faded, he had been through worse. "How long?"

"One minute" Lovino swallowed nervously and Berwald frowned. He knew that he wasn't the only one affected badly by this.

"Let's keep quiet then" They waited and felt how their anxiousness grew bigger. Lovino had made it clear to them that he didn't know if this would work or not. He couldn't choose what to see after all. Everyone suddenly tensed when they heard a branch snap further up the road and soon enough they also heard heavy breathing closing in on them.

"Fuck!" They saw Shade trip right in front of them on the road. Berwald clenched his fists, why would he have to fall right here? He had to restrain himself to not run down and ask where Emil was since it seemed like he wasn't there with Shade. Even though he wasn't there it didn't mean that he was hurt, at least that was what Berwald told himself. Shade stood up again and brushed of his clothes. He was just about to start running again as he suddenly stopped and turned around to look at the ground. "What did you say?" It didn't take long for the hiding nations to figure out that he was talking to Antonio though they could only hear one side of the conversation.

"What do you mean?"

"Yes but I would do it much worse than I have to"

"You mean like Emil?" The group tensed at the mention of Emils name and Ludwig had to grab on to Berwald to stop him from doing something stupid. They turned their attention back to Shade that stood smiling on the road.

"Oh, so you'll fight me? You can't do anything"

"So I can't what? Kill anyone else? Like I did with Emil?"

The world went silent. Berwald stared at the road feeling numb all over, he could see Shades mouth move but no sound came out. The wind had stopped shouting and the leaves didn't rustle. He must have heard it wrong, Emil had to be alive. Without Emil none of them would be able to keep going, he was far too important to all of them. To Berwald he was a friend, to Tino as well, to Mathias he was a son and to Lukas he was a brother. They were a family even though they didn't get along all the time. Just as fast as the world had gone silent it came back with full force. He felt the looks from the other nations but he barely noticed them. Shade was still standing on the road but he had stopped talking and seemed to be getting ready to leave. That's when it hit him.

This man standing not far from him had hurt Emil, Berwald refused to even think the word "killed", and soon he would be gone. Shade would be running towards the town where the rest of his family were. Berwald had already started moving when his feelings caught up with him and the realisation hit. An anger, greater than ever before, exploded within him. He had to stop Shade, though he didn't know if it was for vengeance or to protect the others, and he would have to do it now. Then, everything happened very fast. An arm locked around his waist and a hand covered his mouth.

"You have to calm down!" Ludwigs voice was only a whisper but Berwald could still hear it clearly as he was pulled back behind the bush. "He could be lying!" Berwald fought to get loose but it was no use. He couldn't think, he couldn't see, but he still knew for sure that Shade didn't have any reason to lie. He must have…

"Please…" Tears were streaming down Felicianos face as he took Berwalds hand. "You dying too wouldn't help" Berwald didn't relax, it was more as if all his energy was drained at the same moment. He saw how Shade started off in a jog again and had soon disappeared into the forest, too far away to be caught now. Ludwig let go as he felt Berwald stop struggling and he fell down on his knees.

"Dying too…too…Emil can't…he has to…what is…" Berwald kept struggling to make sense of anything, just anything, but right now nothing did. The world spun around him as he held his hands to his head and he didn't know whether or not he was screaming. He felt like screaming at least. He heard the others talking but couldn't make out any words. After a while he felt himself get picked up and they headed down the road again. He couldn't make out who was carrying him, his mind only echoed one thing over and over. One name.

"Emil Emil Emil Emil Emil Emil"

.

"Fuck!" Antonio watched as Shade tripped and fell hard onto the ground. He was getting tired and couldn't keep up the same speed as he had before. He was up pretty fast and was in the middle of brushing off his clothes when Antonio decided to stop following orders.

"Doesn't matter"

"What did you say?" Shade turned towards him and looked down. He seemed angry but Antonio didn't care.

"It doesn't matter anymore" Antonio crossed his arms. He had been told to be quiet but none of that had any meaning any longer.

"What do you mean?"

"Even if I keep quiet you'll still hurt people" All of them. All of them would get hurt and Antonio felt powerless. There had to be something, anything, that he could do.

"Yes but I would do it much worse than I have to"

"But in the end, they'll all get hurt right?"

"You mean like Emil?" Antonio watched how Shade smiled widely down at him and felt a chill run through him. Shade had enjoyed it, he was completely crazy, and he had to be stopped.

"Yes. But I won't let you do that. I'll fight"

"Oh, so you'll fight me? You can't do anything" Shade chuckled and Antonio felt himself heat up.

"I can! I'll stop you so you can't-"

"So I can't what? Kill anyone else? Like I did with Emil?" Shade smiled even wider and Antonio felt sick. Kill. He had killed someone and Antonio hadn't been able to do anything but watch. "You couldn't do anything then, why would you be able to now?" Before he could answer a branch snapped somewhere in the forest next to them which caught Shades attention. He stared for a moment but seemed to decide it had been nothing.

"I'll find a way"

"Good luck" Shade only gave him a last smile before he turned and started running once again.

.

Elizabeta shuddered in the cold wind as the peered between houses and into alleyways to try and find one of the other groups. She was pretty irritated at having to do what Ivan told her but she also knew that something was weird. Antonio should not be that far out in the forest, especially not since he said he had to look after Lovino. If Lovino wasn't feeling well there was no way that Antonio would leave him for so long. She shook her head and continued towards the more central part of the town when she suddenly heard voices. Arguing voices. A smile made its way to her face as she followed them, if they were arguing it was a high possibility she would find the people she was looking for.

"That can't be true!"

"Listen to me! It is true!" Elizabeta was surprised to see that it was Tino and Lukas arguing and not any of the others that just seemed to be in different stages of shock.

"Hey! Guys!" She waved at them and went in for the landing just as they turned towards her. At the last moment she realised that she had too much speed and crashed into Francis so they both fell down on the ground.

"Why me?" While ignoring Francis, Elizabeta stood up and looked at the others while she evaluated the situation. Tino was angry while Lukas and Mathias both wore faces of disbelief. Yao and Kiku only seemed sad, Arthur was lost in thought while Alfred seemed to have decided on something. He held Matthew in a tight grip.

"You all know something" She watched as Mathias walked up to her.

"We know who has been attacking us and we know that he has Emil" He shook his head to clear his mind. "It's-"

"It's Antonio, isn't it?" The others stared at her as she interrupted.

"How did you know?"

"We saw him by a harbour on the other side of the forest" A silence fell over the group for a moment before Tino walked up to her.

"Where?" It was more of a demand than a question. He looked around for a moment before he added "Where's Ivan?"

"Ivan followed him"

"On his own?"

"Yes" She saw how they shook their heads and realised that they probably had to hurry. "Follow me, I'll show you" Mathias that had been standing quietly this far suddenly turned towards her with a look of determination and anger.

"Please. Show us." Elizabeta nodded and lifted just above their heads. She knew they had to take the land route this time but it would still go faster if she flew. The others waited until she set off before they followed in a fast pace.

.

"See! I told you three minutes was too long!" Gilbert shook his head as Emil coughed over and over again. He had insisted that he could hold his breath for at least three minutes and, even though Gilbert had been against it, they had tried.

"S-Shut up, I'm f-fine" He managed to get the words out between his coughs and shudders. Gilbert sighed, Emil was probably freezing by now. Gilbert couldn't feel the cold the same way Emil did which was probably because of the spell. "H-Hurry"

"I will. In a moment"

"L-Ludwig might b-be in danger t-too" Gilbert felt himself tense and glanced back at Emil.

"That won't work twice" That was how he'd agree to try out three minutes in the first place. Emil had stopped coughing but was still breathing heavily. Gilbert clenched his fists, he knew that Emil was right, Ludwig could be in danger too but he also knew that it would only slow them down if they took too many risks. Gilbert suddenly felt his back warm up.

"Go" He looked at Emil again, the colour had returned to his face and he wasn't shaking anymore. His body heat felt abnormally high but he didn't look feverish. Emil met his eyes and stared at him with a determined look. "Go!"

"Oh, yes" Emil held his breath and Gilbert shot forward. They didn't have long to go but too much could go wrong if they weren't in time.

.

"I'm a worthless brother" They ran fast but Lukas could only follow Mathias lead. He felt sick throughout his whole body as shapes that didn't make any sense passed by him. Emil was in danger and Lukas couldn't do anything. He felt useless.

"We're both useless, we were supposed to protect him" Lukas felt Mathias warmth but it wasn't comforting anymore.

"Even though he didn't want it, we should have watched over him"

"If he trusted us, he would've woken us up"

"If only we-"

"Oh, shut up!" They snapped out of it when both of them received a slap at the back of their heads by Tino. "You speak like he's a helpless little kid and, even worse, like you've already lost him!" Lukas could feel the anger radiating from Tino.

"I know but-"

"No buts! Right now just focus on helping Emil, if you want to blame yourselves do it when he's safe!" Tino sped up and left them alone to think over his words. Lukas shook his head.

"He's right"

"I know" Lukas took a deep breath. He could beat himself up over this later, Emil was the only thing important right now. They ran silently for a while but both Lukas and Mathias felt that something had changed. Tinos words hadn't only put the two of them in place but also made the whole group even more determined to make this right again.

"Something's wrong" While Mathias and Lukas got scolded by Tino, Arthur had been thinking. Considering what Kiku had told them it seemed like not only Emil but Lovino was missing as well. Antonio would never do anything to hurt Lovino so none of this made any sense unless…

"It's just through here!" Arthurs thoughts were interrupted by Elizabetas voice from above him. They were closing in towards an opening in a forest just in front of them.

"Let's hurry" Mathias sped up with Lukas and Tino close behind him. Arthur hurried as well, he understood that they were worried but if it got too far they wouldn't be able to think straight. Just as they reached the road that would lead them to their goal two voices rang through the air.

"Stop!" The group actually listened while Kiku and Yao looked at each other. They could both see that the other one knew so they turned towards the group and said it at the same time. "He's coming"

"What? How can you know?"

"These fairy things told me" Yao lifted his hand as if he was holding something. "I'm getting kind of attached to them you know."

"What about you?" Francis turned to Kiku that pointed towards Alfred.

"Matthew told me" Alfred looked down at the cat he was currently holding "He can smell him"

"I can too" Mathias stared into the forest "He'll be here any second"

"What do we do? Do we hide and surprise him or-"

"No, we'll wait right here" Lukas tone was determined "We'll show him how scary we can be"

"I agree" Tino stepped forward "We won't give him a chance" Arthur walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder before he also turned to stare towards the forest.

"Then we'll wait" The tension was high in the group as they stared towards the forest. As promised, they didn't have to wait long before they heard footsteps and heavy breathing closing in on them. Mathias had to restrain himself to not rush in to attack when Antonio got visible and stopped right in front of them. First, only shock showed on his face but he quickly pulled himself together and soon showed a deep worry instead.

"I'm so glad I found you guys! Lovino has disappeared just like Emil and I can't find him anywhere!"


	29. Chapter 29: Revealed

**Chapter 29**

Revealed

"This lying basta-"

"Tino, calm" Mathias held out a hand to stop Tino from tearing Antonio into pieces despite him feeling the same. That Antonio could just stand in front of them looking truly worried made Mathias feel like he was boiling. Lukas took a step forward next to him.

"You can stop acting. We know." Antonios worried expression fell for only a second but was soon back in place with an addition of shock.

"What are you talking about? We don' have time for this, we have to-"

"You were seen. We know it was you." Arthur stepped up next to Lukas "Where are they?" They could all see how the realisation settled within Antonio. For a moment, he only looked shocked but as it changed they all automatically took a step backwards.

"I was seen? Of course I was seen, it was the only thing left to go wrong" He chuckled softly and smiled at them but it wasn't Antonios usual smile. It was too wide and his eyes glowed from something being suppressed for a long time. He tilted his head and stared at them while he unconsciously rubbed at a bandage wrapped around his right hand. "So? What will you do now?" He took a step forward which med the group tense "Attack me? Beat me up maybe? That is impossible since-"

"Where's Emil and Lovino?" Lukas couldn't see it but he felt how Antonio turned and stared towards him. He didn't seem happy at all.

"I don't like when people interru-"

"Where's Emil?" Lukas felt how Mathias reached out a hand in front of him but it took a few seconds to understand that it wasn't to stop him. It was to protect him.

"You…" Lukas almost took a step back at the threatening tone. Almost. "You're just like your brother. Kept on interrupting me all the time, it was really annoying" He chuckled again "Though I don't have to deal with him anymore I guess"

"Wait" Arthur managed to stop Tino, Mathias and Lukas from doing something drastic. They had to get some answers first. "What happened to you Antonio?"

"Antonio?" He seemed confused for a moment "So you don't know?" He smiled even wider "That makes things slightly easier" Mathias watched as Antonio let his eyes wander from person to person until it finally stopped at Arthur. "It's a pity Alfred didn't manage to take care of you"

"So it was you that-"

"Who else would? I'm the only one powerful enough to do it!" He laughed out loud which made Mathias cringe. There was so much madness mixed into the laughter. It stopped quickly and instead Antonio got a very serious expression on his face. He raised his hand towards Arthur and furrowed his brows in concentration. "Guess I'll have to deal with you myself" His hand started glowing.

"Watch out!" Mathias hadn't even taken a step before Alfred zoomed past him and tackled Arthur to the ground. The beam barely missed them as it shot above their heads and hit a lamppost that quickly melted where and fell over with a loud bang. The two nations on the ground stared at it for a moment and processed what would have happened if Alfred hadn't been that fast to react before they both got up. Arthur stared at Antonio that sighed and raised his hand again.

"This time I won't miss"

"I believe you" From within his sleeve, Arthur took out something that seemed like an ordinary stick "Get behind me" The others quickly moved behind him as he lifted the stick. The end was now glowing and, while whispering words the others couldn't understand, Arthur slowly drew a circle. He continued to draw lines within the circle until it created a pattern while Antonio seemed to still be reloading his energy. When Arthur was done he ended by lifting his wand in the air and quickly made a cross over the symbol that suddenly disappeared.

"Arthur? What are you-"

"Just trust me okay?" Francis swallowed nervously but nodded. Antonio lifted his hand towards them again and smiled.

"So you're all gathering in one place?" He chuckled and stared at them though burning eyes. "Don't blame me if I hit someone else than Arthur"

"Get ready!" Arthur crossed his arms and crouched down a little just as Antonio fired. The beam crashed into the shield that seemed to have doubled in size and was suddenly glowing right between them. The nations saw how cracks started forming on it and how the edges started tearing off.

"Arthur?"

"It'll hold!" It felt like a long time but it was only after a few seconds that the beam and the shield cancelled each other out in a blast which threw them all in different directions. Arthur hit the ground hard and felt almost paralysed. He tried to sit up but something hit his chest and forced him back down.

"This was interesting" Antonio pushed down harder with his foot on Arthurs chest "and fortunate" Arthur heard movement around him which meant that the other nations were getting back up. The pressure on his chest increased and it got harder to breathe. "This will be so much easier now" Arthur looked up at the smiling face in front of him just as it twisted in pain. Antonio stepped back while he covered his right hand and groaned.

"Arthur! Are you okay?" Francis reached out a hand that Arthur ignored before he got up again.

"I'm fine" He looked over at Antonio "What happened?" The bandage on his hand was torn and he had markings on his arms that were all slightly bleeding. Francis only pointed at the ground where Matthew was standing on the ground varying from looking suspiciously at Antonio and worryingly at Arthur. Arthur crouched down and patted his head. "Thank you"

"All of you" They watched how Antonio ripped of the bandage. "All of you are so annoying."

"You're outnumbered. You can't win" Yao took a step forward "Where are they?"

"Outnumbered? Sure. But, with both Lukas and Arthur weakened I can surely win"

"What do you mean?" Now it was Lukas wondering "Arthur isn't weakened, right?"

"Well, should I tell them or?" Lukas heard how Antonio moved but, since Mathias didn't, he assumed that he was moving away from them. "What are you down on? 50%? That's why you can't see them despite them calling for your attention, right?"

"Arthur, what is he saying?" Francis grabbed him but Arthur only avoided his eyes "Just tell us!"

"Fine! Just, let go of me!" Arthur felt Antonios victorious smile but tried to ignore it "I can't see magical creatures anymore" He heard how Antonio chuckled.

"And? Come on, don't hold it in now" Arthur cringed but continued.

"I can't see them because my magic is depleted, I can only use half as powerful spells and my energy is drained faster." He sighed "That shield I made shouldn't have stopped the beam, it should've reflected it"

"But why didn't you tell us? That's pretty important information!"

"I just…"

"Isn't it obvious?" Antonio spoke up again and they turned their attention towards him. "You were so happy right?" He took a step forward but the other nations immediately tensed and stepped in front of Arthur. "Please, you'll think differently after you hear this" He smiled but backed away again "You were so happy they were listening, they were depending on you. You had an idea how to fix this and they turned to you for guidance. And still, you put them in danger."

"Stop"

"You're just like me you know, only care about yourself. You want power and you wouldn't hesitate to hurt others to get it. But you're weak. Isn't that why you sent most nations to Vladimir?" He chuckled again while Arthur were covering his ears "You didn't want them to find out that you probably wouldn't be able to break most spells, you tried to push forward the moment they would find out. Find out that you're a fraud!"

"Stop!"

"Do you think they'll listen to you after this? Will trust you? If you by any chance would survive this you would keep living your lonely life without anyone to ever-"

"ENOUGH OF THIS" Out of nowhere, Tino practically flew in and kicked Antonio in the side of his chest which caused him to fly through the air and hit the ground hard. They heard how a few ribs broke in the process and before he could get up, Tino was there again and sent him flying one more time.

"Tino!"

"I'm tired of this! His trying to play with us. All this talking… We're just wasting time! It doesn't matter if Arthur withheld something from us. Now we know and we'll adjust" Before anyone could stop him, Tino had lifted Antonio from the ground in his collar and stared into his eyes with a fury burning within him.

"Now, where's Emil and Lovino?"

.

"Finally! That was pretty exhausting!"

"You weren't the one to carry a person on his back through the ocean you know!"

"Yes I know and I thank you for that" Emil sat on the small beach with Gilbert laying down next to him regaining his breath. They weren't at the harbor where Shade had stolen the boat but it didn't take long for Emil to figure out where they were. He had been in Copenhagen enough times to know that they were about 30 minutes away, if walking, from the hotel. That was too far. "We have to get going"

"We? Kid, I hate to break this to you but, I can't walk." Emil looked down at him and saw a small smile on his lips "I know it might be a shock but please, stay calm"

"Stop it, I get your point" Emil almost smiled back but frowned as he realised that he might have to part with Gilbert. He hated to admit it, but Emil was scared. If he met Shade alone again everything would just repeat. On the other hand, Gilbert would probably not be much of a help right now. Emil sighed, the best thing to do would be leaving Gilbert but… "Hey, Gilbert?"

"Yes?"

"Is it okay if I'll be a little selfish?" Emil watched as Gilbert sat up and looked a bit wondering but still nodded.

"Then, I have an idea"

.

"Tell us now!"

How could this be? Was he really feeling scared?

"You have three seconds before I…"

"No" Shade snapped his fingers which created a shockwave that made Tino drop him and fell to the ground. The wave gave Shade enough time to step away. This was bad, really bad. He measured the group with his eyes. Technically, all of them were a threat but he never would have expected that he would have to look out for the usually calm and caring Tino. Shade winced when he felt the pain spreading from his chest. So this is what real pain feels like.

"You're so screwed and you'll lose real soon, you're so screwed and you'll lose real soon"

"Shut up" Shade only whispered it but Antonio kept on going with his little chant. This was a real problem. Even if neither Lukas nor Arthur could use their magic fully, Shade had used a lot these past few hours. He could feel it throughout his body, his energy had almost drained completely, and the hits he'd received didn't help. There was only one thing left to do.

"Stop him" He heard the shouts as he darted into the forest but tried to focus on running. But he didn't get far. After only a few seconds, a wall suddenly emerged in front of him. A human wall.

"Hello again, Shade"

"How did you? You shouldn't be here!" Ludwig, Ivan, Lovino, Feliciano and Berwald. The five of them stood in a row on the forest path with the exception of Berwald that was being carried by Feliciano with a murderous look on his face. Shade heard how the other group caught up to them and saw how they spread out in a circle around him but his attention was still brought back to Berwald. As he was let down on the ground, Shade almost took a step backwards. Earlier it had seemed like the usual intimidation that he always seemed to radiate had gotten locked away in this child form. Now, it was as if all of it exploded and was let out at the same time.

"Berwald! What happe-"

"Tell me it isn't true" Shade noticed that Mathias was interrupted but couldn't look away as Berwald took a step forward and stared at him.

"W-What is?" Shade clenched his fists. Damn it. He was even stuttering.

"You said…" Berwald paused for a moment before he continued with even more anger in his voice "You said you killed Emil. Tell me it isn't true." Shade had to take a step back.

"When did you-"

"We heard you speaking with Antonio. We hid in the forest" Lovino spoke up but Shade barely noticed. They had heard him, they knew, which meant that…

"No. That can't be" Shade turned towards Lukas that stared at him in shock. Mathias couldn't even say a word and Tino seemed like he wanted to scream. "Berwald did he-"

"I don't know! I just heard him say it!" That's when Shade realised that tears were streaming down Berwalds face. He also realised that this might be his way out. If he could get them off balance… First, he took a deep breath. Then he straightened out his posture to a more intimidating one and finally…

"Yes. Emil is dead."


	30. Chapter 30: Stop it

**Chapter 30**

Stop it

What was this?

"Someone stop them!"

Why couldn't he think clearly?

"Mathias! Tino! Back off!"

"No!" Mathias struggled as the other nations tried to restrain him and Tino. Berwald was already stopped and Lukas had fallen down on his knees. They had managed to get a few punches in but Antonio was still able to get up on his feet.

"Let go of me! Antonio has lost his mind so let me beat some sense into him!"

"Tino listen! That's not Antonio, there's more to this than you know!" Lovinos voice cut through the yelling but they didn't have much effect.

"Doesn't matter! Nothing matters! Just let me…Just…" Tinos voice faded away and was replaced by sobbing. Mathias was thrown back at the ground next to Lukas. All around him people were yelling at each other but the only thing he saw was how Antonio stood up and smiled at him. Then he was gone. The group fell silent within seconds.

"Where is he?"

"How did-"

"Teleportation is pretty tricky, drains plenty of energy too, but this short of a distance I can handle"

"Lovino!"

"No, no, I would advise you all to stay back" Antonio smiled at Mathias from his position behind Lovino. He was holding him tightly so it didn't matter how much he struggled to get loose. "I'm in control now" Even though he was smiling, it was obvious that Antonio was exhausted. He was breathing heavily and had to struggle to keep Lovino in check.

"Let go of me! You've lost already, give up!"

"Give up? There's no need to give up. I'm stronger than all of them combined, just a bit tired right now" He chuckled and turned Lovino so they were facing each other "I guess I just have to recharge"

"You wouldn't" Mathias turned his head as Arthur spoke up. He had gone completely pale. "That is very dangerous, you'll hurt him!"

"Why would that matter?" The smile was gone now. "I've never cared for him anyway"

"Stop!"

"Arthur, what will he do?" Before Feliciano could receive an answer, Antonio dragged Lovino close to him and kissed him forcefully. Lovinos eyes shot open in surprise and he did his best to push him away. Suddenly, a dark fog started to radiate from the two nations that spread and twirled around them. Mathias stood up and tried to reach them but was pushed back almost immediately. Some of the fog started swirling around Lovinos wrist and formed something similar to a chain that linked with Antonios wrist. They could only watch as Lovinos eyes went blank and his body turned limp right before Antonio pulled away. Both the fog and the chain disappeared within moments and Mathias gasped.

"Well, wasn't that fun?" Antonio seemed fully healed, it was as if he never had received any hits or was feeling any fatigue at all. He dropped the unconscious Lovino on the ground and took a few steps forward as Feliciano ran over to his brother. "I guess there's no point pretending to be Antonio now. There's no way he'd do that, isn't that right?" He looked down on the ground and smiled for a moment before he continued "Some of you probably know by now but, how about an introduction?" Mathias stood up again. He had figured that this wasn't Antonio already but now he'd finally find out just who this really is.

"Then, who are you? What did you actually do to Emil and how would you prefer to get beaten this time?"

.

"This was a really great idea Emil, you really ROCK!"

"Please stop it!"

"What? Aren't you glad we could LEAF that beach together?"

"I will leave you if you keep this up"

"I'm just really ROOTING for you!"

"You can't keep making puns of things you see while we're in a forest. It's annoying" Emil managed to keep up a fast paced jog despite pushing Gilbert in the shopping cart they had "borrowed" from a store next to the water.

"I'm just trying to lighten the mood!" Gilbert smiled at him but did actually shut up. Emil sighed, he knew that Gilbert meant well and it did actually help a bit. They couldn't move any faster than this either way so there was no point in worrying or overthinking right now. They would get there when they would get there. But Emil couldn't help it, his mind kept wandering to the others while wondering what was going on over there right now. Were they all okay? Had Shade managed to… They had to be safe. He could feel the cool air pass them as he ran but it didn't bother him at all.

"Hey Emil"

"Yes?"

"They'll be fine" Gilbert grinned at him and clenched his fist in the air "If not, I'll kick their asses for letting themselves get beaten" Emil surprised them both by chuckling.

"Just let me get in a hit too"

"Hey Emil"

"What now?"

"Isn't that tree just… TREEmendous?"

"I swear I'll push the cart down a cliff and-"

"Okay, okay! I get it"

.

"That's impossible! A shadow can't be alive and especially not take over any bodies!"

"And still you're looking at me. Living proof" Mathias had to focus so he wouldn't lose control as Shade chuckled at Arthur. All he could think about was Emil, it clouded his mind, but something told him to not just attack. Maybe it was some instinct that warned him that it was too dangerous or maybe he just wanted to know more before doing something drastic. Tino and Berwald were both being held back by the other nations but seemed to feel the same thing as Mathias. Shade suddenly turned towards both him and Lukas and smiled. "Emil sort of figured it out but he thought Antonio was still in control so he came to me to warn him. Unfortunately he found out."

"Don't you dare to speak of him" Shade only took a step towards them and chuckled.

"You know that time you came by our hotel room to search for him? If you only had been a bit more observant you might have noticed that your dear Emil was really close by"

"You're lying"

"No, it's true. At that moment I had him tied up on my bed unable to make a sound. He heard you come and he heard you leave. Can you imagine the hope he must have felt and the disappointment and fear that followed?" Mathias barely noticed the growl that grew in his throat as he crouched down to prepare for the leap. "You're finally losing it again? Come here so I can take care of you." Shade grinned widely at him "As I did with Emil"

"Mathias!" Tino shrieked as Mathias took the leap at Shade and threw the first punch. Still smiling, Shade moved to the side so fast it was impossible to follow with the naked eye. But Mathias was fast too and he didn't have to see him to know where his enemy was. His nose picked up the scent before Shade managed to get in a hit so Mathias avoided it. It continued the same way for a while but it didn't take long for Mathias to realise that he couldn't keep up for long. He could really feel the fatigue from the past few day. On the other hand, it seemed like Shade was full of energy without a single scratch on his body. Once again Mathias tried to avoid a kick but this time he couldn't. It hit him hard in his side and he was thrown down on the ground. That's when Mathias realised.

"All this time… You were aiming at the same spot."

"Well, we've fought before. Remember?" Shade walked over and sent him flying back to the group with another kick. "Though, technically, you we're fighting Alfred which I controlled" He smiled softly "I knew I broke some ribs that day so why not aim for the weak spot?"

"So it was you" Shade turned towards Yao that flinched and pointed at Alfred "That's what he wrote here" Alfred did not seem happy at all and took a step forward.

"Oh, That's right! I almost forgot, I don't have to keep your memories anymore!" Shade snapped his fingers and Alfred took a step back while covering his head with his hands. He seemed to be in pain for a moment before he suddenly tuned his gaze at Shade again. Shade smiled and made an inviting movement with his hand. "You want to fight me next? Despite how it went the last time?"

"Alfred wait! This is what he wants! We should gang up on him, not fight him one on-" Alfred interrupted Francis by throwing his jacket at him before giving them a look telling them all to back off.

"This is about revenge, he won't back down" The group turned towards Kiku that flinched at their annoyed stares and pointed at Matthew "That's what he said".

"Then it's decided" Shade crouched down to prepare for the attack and smiled "Come at me, I won't hold back" Alfred started off with a simple straight on punch which Shade easily avoided and then countered with a similar one. But instead of avoiding it, Alfred managed to grab onto his wrist and pulled him downwards while he at the same time lifted his elbow to hit him right in his cheek. Shade was quickly back on his feet and smiled for some reason. The smile was somehow provoking and Alfred roundhouse kicked towards his head and Shade quickly lifted his arm to protect him but shortly before impact, the kick changed direction and instead hit his unprotected side. Shade fell down on his knees and before he could recover, Alfred raised a knee and hit him underneath his chin which threw him onto his back.

"Alfred is… winning?" Francis sounded worried and the others felt the same. This was going too easy, they had all seen Shades power and even though they knew Alfred was strong, something was wrong. They saw how Shade got up again, still smiling, while Alfred circled around him. It was obvious that he was in pain but he took a deep breath and after only a moment, he seemed fine again.

"That's cheating! There won't be a fair game if you keep healing yourself!"

"I never said I'd play it fair, I said I wouldn't hold back." Shade turned towards Alfred "If you can stay alive until I run out of energy though, I won't be able to heal" He smiled even wider "But I think I've seen enough now" Alfred charged forward again but as he threw the punch, his wrist was grabbed and Shades elbow met his face. He stumbled back and saw a foot coming at his face so he put up an arm to block it but instead felt it hit the side of his body. He fell down on his knees and was hit underneath his chin so he was thrown onto his back. "Not a bad combo you got there" Alfred was quickly up on his feet again. It hurt but it wasn't something he couldn't manage.

"You copied him" Tino stared at the two of them "How could you copy him so perfectly?"

"Us shadows spend a lot of time observing, mostly because it's the only thing we can do. We learn to read people, the way they move, the way they think. It's really interesting." He smirked at them "It's useful while fighting since I'll get stronger and stronger as the fight continues, I'll see your next attack before you've even thought of it" Shade pointed at Mathias "That's how I got him, I fought him before. I've memorised the way he fights"

"We just have to beat you quickly then"

"I wish you luck. Just remember that if you go too far and actually kill me, Antonio will be gone too. I'll be reborn into another body while he'll disappear into heaven or hell or whatever. Every blow you deal will be to his body" He smiled as he saw the shock on their faces "Didn't think of that did you?"

"Then there's no way to defeat you"

"Good job! You figured it out! So, how about you all just give up and surrender to me?" The smirk on his face grew even wider as he saw the uncertainty on their faces. At least until Francis spoke up.

"It's pretty easy to check right?" He stepped to the side and looked down on the ground. "Hey Antonio! Give me a thumbs up if it's okay to go all out" For a moment there was complete silence and all of them looked at Antonio as the tension grew. With no hesitation at all he held up two thumbs in the air. Finally, it was Shades turn to get chocked.

"Y-You wouldn't"

"I guess that settles it" Elizabeta stepped forward while cracking her knuckles. "You're going down"


	31. Chapter 31: A strong hand

**Chapter 31**

A strong hand

"No"

"No? What do you mean?"

"We won't gang up on him, it won't work" The group looked at Lukas with a mix of confusion and concern. Maybe the things Shade had said about Emil drove him mad somehow. Arthur sighed.

"He's right, it won't work that way"

"When he said he would recharge, did he really…"

"Yes, he did"

"What are you talking about?" Mathias had followed Arthur and Lukas conversation but couldn't make much sense of it.

"The thing he did to Lovino" Arthur shook his head "It makes him very dangerous"

"Then, what did he do?"

"Is this really the best time for explanations?"

"Yes!"

"He recharged" Lukas interrupted them. "It's a way for mages to steal energy from others, but it's forbidden and very dangerous" He stood up on unsteady legs while Arthur continued.

"Do you remember what I said about energy? We only have a certain amount and if we use too much, we can end up using our life force instead. If that happens, we might die" He frowned and pointed towards Lukas "It was a close call for him earlier"

"What Shade did was simply draining the energy from Lovinos body, if he would have continued…" Lukas didn't finish the sentence but they still understood.

"Well, I couldn't kill him now could I? He's the main key to make Antonio suffer after all" Shade shrugged, his confidence slowly returning. He was glad they didn't gang up on him, it would force him to use more energy and he might kill them by mistake. He didn't want that yet. That also meant that he could focus on healing. "Now then, surrender to me and-"

"I said we couldn't gang up on you" Now there was a force behind Lukas words "I didn't say we would lose" He stepped closer to where the voice came from "I'll fight you" Lukas felt his anger build up as Shade started laughing.

"You? You can barely stand not to mention the fact that you can't see! How could you possibly win?" His laughter faded into a chuckle "You'll be down in seconds"

"But I know the weaknesses of that spell. All I need is a bit of patience and you're done for." Lukas didn't even feel pleased as Shades laughter faded at his words. He was too angry.

"Weaknesses?"

"You don't know? The effect has a time limit and when that is reached…" Lukas took another step forward "…You'll tell me what really happened to Emil" He waited for a moment.

"I told you. He's gone. I dropped him off in the middle of the ocean, ask Antonio if you don't beli-"

"No!" Lukas finally snapped and launched forward.

.

"Hey Ludwig! Feli! You around here?"

"Lukas! Mathias! Anyone?" Emil walked around inside the lobby of the hotel but there was no one around. He even ran to their room but there wasn't any answer. "Where are they?"

"Probably out looking for you" Emil turned to Gilbert that was still sitting in his cart.

"Then we have to get out there" He took a few steps forward but stumbled and fell. The fatigue was finally catching up with him.

"Emil! Are you okay? You're bleeding"

"I'm okay" The wound on his head had reopened because of the fall and it felt like the room was spinning. "We have to keep going"

"You have to be treated first! It won't help if you suddenly pass out"

"Fine!" Emil had learned that Gilbert wouldn't give in when he had decided on something. It was easier and quicker to just go along with it.

"There should be a first aid kit around here somewhere. Do you think you can find it?"

"Sure" While Emil searched the room on unsteady legs, Gilbert managed to get to the sofa in the middle of the room. It did involve falling on his face out of the cart and then dragging himself across the room but, he got there. "Found it!"

"Good! Come sit here and I'll fix you up!" Gilbert grinned at him as he walked over and sat down but as he started working he got a more serious expression. "Do you think you're weak?"

"What?" Emil was completely unprepared for the question.

"Back on the beach, while you were unconscious, you mumbled some things. You were blaming yourself, said you were weak" He spoke while treating the wound and looked more serious than Emil had ever seen him. Emil frowned.

"If I was strong this wouldn't have happened" He thought back. If he only could've had the strength to fight back, this would all be over already.

"I agree" Emil looked up at Gilbert and noticed a small smile playing on his lips. "You were kidnapped, got hurt, almost drowned, travelled through the ocean, pushed me in a cart for half an hour and are still standing" Gilbert tightened the bandage that was now wrapped around Emils head. "So weak" The sarcasm was obvious to anyone and Emil blushed.

"B-But I could've done more! Even now I can't-" Gilbert interrupted with a pat on his back that almost threw Emil of the couch.

"You need to give yourself some more credit!"

"Let's just get going" Emil smiled a little at the praise but was still embarrassed. It took them a few minutes to get Gilbert back in the cart, Emil refused to leave him behind, but they were soon back outside.

"Were should we start, maybe…" Gilberts words trailed of as they saw a light coming from just outside of town. The light was unnatural, it seemed blue and was constantly shifting.

"I think we know where to go"

.

"This is pathetic, you can barely last 5 minutes how could you possibly outlast the time limit?"

"Lukas!" Lukas hit the ground for the fifth time but still stood up on unsteady legs. He didn't care if it hurt, he just had to do it over and over again. He would stand up as many times as it took for the spell to wear off. Again and again and again and…

"Lukas?" Lukas turned towards him as he heard Berwalds voice. He sounded strangely calm which was probably the reason Lukas had reacted in the first place. "That recharge thing. Can you do it too?" Lukas blinked.

"Yes, but I would never do it. It's too dangerous"

"Do it. Do it to me" Berwalds voice didn't waver for a second.

"I can't do it. I might kill you by mistake." Lukas felt how something grabbed onto his leg.

"I trust you"

"You don't understand! It's like a drug that fills you with energy the more you take and it's hard to sto-"

"Please…" Now he only sounded pleading "If I can't fight, let me at least be useful" Finally, Lukas understood. In Berwalds current state there was no way for him to win. The cuteness that the spell created wouldn't have any effect on someone like Shade that only wanted destruction. Tino had gotten in a few hits. Mathias had as well. But Berwald was also angry, he also cared about Emil. He also wanted the truth.

"Okay" Lukas crouched down and felt his way to Berwald.

"As if I'd let you!" Lukas heard steps closing in on them as Shade charged forward but soon they stopped and were replaced by a thud as he was knocked back.

"Don't forget about us!"

"Lukas, you do your thing, we'll keep him away" Tinos and Mathias voices were comforting. He could now be certain the no one would interrupt so he could focus. He heard more footsteps as the rest of the nations gathered between them.

"Just hurry up, we can't hold up for too long" Arthurs words made Lukas focus again. While hearing the thuds, swearing and cries as the fight continued, Lukas took Berwalds face between his hands.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

"No!" Shade cried out just as Lukas pressed his lips to Berwalds forehead. The group turned as a blue light started glowing strongly from the two nations and they felt some force pushing them back. The light shifted and, instead of a chain, formed a thin thread between their wrists. It didn't take long before Berwalds eyes went blank and as his body turned limp Lukas caught him before he hit the ground. Lukas pulled back just as the light faded and looked down at him worryingly. He let out a relieved sigh as he saw the chest rise and fall.

"He'll be fine" Without looking at the group, Lukas stood up and walked over to Lovino. He laid Berwald down next to him and straightened up. Without turning around he spoke to Shade. "You said I could never defeat you, I was too weak, I couldn't even see" He turned around and walked towards Shade while the group moved to make him a path. Tino gasped.

"Lukas! You-"

"Then, how do you like me now?" He stopped right in front of Shade. "Now, I see you very clearly" Lukas eyes were clear again and it seemed like all his fatigue had somehow disappeared.

"You think I'm scared now? I'm stronger than you"

"Then, why are you trembling?" Lukas stared at him with an intensity that forced Shade to back away. He threw an angry glare down at Antonio that apparently had said something seemingly annoying. Shade reached out a hand towards Lukas.

"I'll show you just how bad I can be" He snapped his fingers and created a shockwave that forced everyone a couple of steps back.

"Arthur! Keep the others safe" Lukas didn't look away from Shade for even a second. "Let me fight without worry"

"Okay. Be careful" That was all Lukas needed to know. He could go all out.

"Well then" Lukas lifted his hand with his palm up. It stared glowing for a second and when it stopped they could see something similar to a deck of cards on it. He picked up the top five cards and placed the rest in his pocket. They spread out and stayed floating in front of him in the air with their backs up. "Shall we?"

"Fine" Shade crouched down a bit to get ready and lifted his hands in front of him. "Let's do this" Lukas took a deep breath and tapped one of the cards. It flipped over and shot towards Shade only to burst into flames shortly before it hit. In the last second, he ducked and rolled over so the ball of fire shot above his head. When it hit a tree behind them it exploded and sent flames flying everywhere.

"What was that?" Tino sounded shocked.

"Using cards is a very powerful tactic but it has its downsides" Arthur quickly drew a circle in the air to stop them from being hit by the fire. "For example, you don't know what attack will come out"

"Can't you just check the card first?"

"It won't activate if you do that. Look I'll explain later but I have to focus now…" Lukas barely heard them as he focused on his opponent. Shade stood up again and raised his hand towards the sky.

"I knew you were a worthy opponent and your brother would also have been if his powers would have been allowed to grow" The sky rumbled and they saw dark clouds gathering above their heads. Lukas was quickly down on the ground and started drawing in the dirt. He felt like he was boiling and it got worse every time Shade mentioned Emils name. He tried hard to not lose control. "Luckly, I made sure that wouldn't happen"

"You can't provoke me like that" Lukas was finished with the symbol just as the first lightning struck. It looked similar to a pointy R and as the bolts shot towards him, and only him, he stayed still. The symbol on the ground glowed and seemed to absorb the shock every bolt sent. Lukas tapped a second card and it shot forward. It headed for Shade and just before it hit it turned into a knife. It dug deeply into his arm and he cried out in pain. The lightning stopped and Lukas erased the symbol. To not give him another chance at recovering, Lukas tapped another card. It started spinning and rose above their heads. It rose higher and higher until it was too far away to be seen. Lukas just stared at it for a while before he once again focused on Shade that still stared after the card.

"That was the most useless card I've ever seen and I've lived longer than any of you" He looked back down at Lukas that only stared back at him. Shade lifted his hand towards Lukas and they saw that it was glowing. He was charging another beam but Lukas didn't move. "You think you can block it? It's stronger than the earlier ones. Lukas didn't answer but he didn't move either which made Shade chuckle. He fired the beam but instead of going towards Lukas it shot right up in the air and hit something high above them. "The card…"

"Don't look away" Before Shade could react, he was hit by the fourth card right in his chest. It turned into water and surrounded him until he was trapped inside a bubble. He tried to get out but no matter how much he struggled he couldn't get out. Suddenly, he went still and after a few moments his whole body started glowing. The water bubble burst and he fell down on the ground. Within seconds, Lukas stood next to him and pointed his last card at him. "I wouldn't move if I were you"

"Defeating me won't give you back Emil" He was panting slightly as he spoke "Even if you win you'll still have lost"

"Shut up! Where is he?"

"Gone"

"Lies! Where is he?"

"Gone"

"No!"

Lukas tapped the card.


	32. Chapter 32: Fish Basket Strike

**Chapter 32**

Fish Basket Strike

A rabbit. The card turned into a rabbit. It had already hopped into the forest before Lukas snapped out of it. "Why did I keep that card?" Lukas looked down at Shade that also seemed to snap out of the confusion the rabbit caused. Lukas quickly reached into his pocket and damned the five card at a time limit but Shade was faster. He grabbed onto Lukas foot and twisted so he fell down on the ground while he, himself, got back onto his feet.

"Finally! Some luck on my side!" Shade put a foot onto Lukas back and pushed downwards which forced him to stay on the ground. "Don't get any closer" He held up a hand towards the group that was making their way over to help Lukas. They stopped but the anger and worry they felt was obvious. Shade smiled at them. "I won't kill him, just let him know who's in charge" He snapped his finger which sent a shock through Lukas body and made him cry out in pain.

"Lukas!" Mathias didn't go far before he gasped and fell down to his knees. The pain from his broken ribs spread throughout his whole body.

"I'm fine! Just stay away!" Lukas panted a bit and waved his hand at them to back away. "You'll need to finish this if I don't"

"You won't" Shade snapped his fingers again and sent a second wave of electricity "And neither will they" Lukas tried to reach him but when that didn't work, he reached for his pocket. "I wouldn't do that if I were you" He snapped his fingers a third time.

"Stop it!" Tino cried out as Lukas gasped for air. Lukas didn't know what to do, he couldn't reach his cards and he couldn't think of any spell that would help in this situation. Most ones he knew were long range attacks since he had thought they were the most useful ones.

"Get up" Shade backed away and chuckled "If you can" Lukas slowly got up but they could all see that he had a hard time just standing up. Chuckling, Shade was there again and simply shoved him. Lukas stumbled and fell "You don't have the energy to stand, no energy left to heal, what will you do? You've exerted yourself only minutes after regaining your energy."

"I might be tired but as long as I can stand" He stood up once again "I haven't lost." Shade stopped smiling.

"You're so annoying" Shade charged and hit Lukas hard in his chest which sent him back onto the ground. Lukas looked up and was met by a stare so malicious, so crazy, that he crawled backwards in an attempt to get away from it. When Shade stepped closer Lukas realised. He had been pushed further from the group, they were too far away. They wouldn't get there in time if Shade planned something. Shade how Lukas was looking back and forth between him and the others. "You noticed" He chuckled and raised his hand towards him before he exclaimed loud and clear "I hope you'll have fun when you meet Emil"

"No! Lukas!" Lukas heard the voices, he saw them run towards them but he also knew that they were too far away to reach them in time. Shade towered over him and he could do nothing but close his eyes and wait. He prayed that the other would find a solution, he knew that they would. But, apparently it wouldn't involve him. He waited for the pain.

But none came.

Instead a loud shout was heard followed by the sound of a crash right in front of him. Lukas opened his eyes and the sight that met him was beyond confusing. Shade was laying down on the ground clutching his arm and there seemed to be a shopping cart laying tipped over next to him. There was another person – or was it a person? – laying next to him with his back against Lukas. But as he spoke, the voice was unmistakeable.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" Gilbert stared at something further down the road.

"I'm sorry, I lost my grip" Lukas stopped breathing. He didn't dare to turn and check if it really was true because if it wasn't, he would probably break.

"You did not! You even named you attack, who does that?" Gilbert sat up and it wasn't until now that Lukas noticed the fin that angrily flapped against the ground.

"I-I saw it in this show I watch" Again there was that voice and, after looking at Mathias that stared down the road as if he'd seen a ghost, Lukas slowly turned his head.

"By the way, what kind of name is 'Fish Basket strike'?" Gilbert still seemed a bit angry but it was quickly fading.

"It sounded better in my head, okay!" Lukas stared at him. A bandage was wrapped around his head, he didn't have any shirt on for some reason and he seemed tired but it was surely him.

"Yeah, yeah sure it did- Oh! Ludwig! Feli! You're here!" While Gilbert made his way over to his brother, by using a mix of rolling and dragging himself, Lukas could only stare at Emil. He stood up, didn't even notice the fatigue anymore, and walked over.

"Emil? Is it really you?" Emil gave him a confused look.

"What? Of course it is, why wouldn't it-" He was interrupted by Lukas pulling him close to give him a hug.

"You're okay" Lukas backed away and looked him over one more time, searching for injuries. Apart from the bandage it seemed like he was fine.

"Emil!" Tino was suddenly there and pulled him into a crushing hug before letting go. "Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Where have you been? We were so worried…" While Tino continued his rant, Emil felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Mathias standing next to him.

"You're here" The relief was almost too much and Mathias pulled him in for a hug, ignoring the pain in his chest.

"What's going on?" Emil looked at them. Some seemed hurt and both Lovino and Berwald was unconscious. Lukas seemed like he was going to break any moment, both physically and mentally, while Tino continued checking if he was alright. Of course, it didn't take long for Emil to figure it out and he looked over at Shade that was trying to get back on his feet.

"No!" Shade stood up and stared at Emil. "It can't be!"

"It's true, you failed once again" Emil stared back at him as well as he could through the wall consisting of Lukas, Mathias and Tino that had formed between them.

"How is that possible?" Shade was breathing faster and seemed to be losing control.

"I got lucky" Emil pointed at Gilbert that was sitting next to Ludwig. He grinned and bowed ironically.

"My pleasure" Emil watched as Shade put the pieces together and noticed how he seemed to be fuming.

"I can't believe this. Everything is falling apart, nothing… Nothing has worked!" Small flames started spreading on his arms.

"Just give up already!" Emil pushed himself through the wall. He was tired of this. Shade had hurt too many of them and would never stop unless they stopped him. He knew they could, he knew they would, but Emil didn't want to see anyone else get hurt in the process.

"As if! As long as I'm still standing, as long as I'm alive I won't stop trying!" The flames grew bigger "I was going to spare some of you but not anymore!"

"Get back!" Lukas pulled Emil back just as the flames exploded. With a swift movement he lifted his hand and practically cut the flames shooting towards them. Arthur did the same in front of the other group but as the flames faded, he fell down to his knees.

"Not now" Arthur was panting heavily "I can't pass out now" With sheer willpower, he got back up on his feet. Shade didn't notice, he had lost it completely.

"I'll show you! I'll just heal myself again and there will be nothing to stop me!" The flames grew brighter once again "You might beat me in numbers but in power you're so much weaker!"

"What do we do?" Tinos voice cut through the howling wind and the sound of fire.

"Just get behind me, I'll manage" Emil looked at his brother. He seemed worried, tense, but he was clearly determined to win this fight. They gathered behind Lukas while the other group gathered behind Arthur. Shade took a step forward.

"Prepare yourself" Shade reached out his hand and his body started glowing as the healing spell started working. A few scratches on his face healed and his arm glowed stronger than the others. The impact with the shopping cart seemed to have broken it. Shade closed his eyes and they could see the relief on his face. At least for a moment. The glowing suddenly stopped, it didn't fade away it just stopped. Shades eyes shot open and he clutched his chest. "What?"

"This has gone on long enough" The voice was familiar and the nations looked around for the source.

"This can't be" Shade blinked. His eyes were still filled with madness but they also held shock as he fell down to his knees.

"I found your weakness" That's when they noticed. The voice came from Shade himself.

"Impossible! I have no weakn-" Shade shook his head and the nations saw how his face changed. From being lost to madness it instead got filled with determination. And anger.

"You've lost. Leave" He fell down on all four and panted. His face changed again.

"No! I've waited thousands of years for this!" Fire spread over his body again as Shades fury took over but as his face changed again, they faded.

"You hurt so many, you hurt Lovi, I won't forgive you"

"I don't need your forgiveness!"

"Is it?" Emil barely dared to hope.

"I think it is." Lukas stared at the ground where Shade was struggling. "He's fighting back"

"Can we help him?" Tino was worried.

"No, I don't think so" Lukas sat down "I think we just have to wait. And hope" The others sat down as well and watched as Antonio regained control once again.

"Leave! This is my body, it has always been" As he turned over to his back his face shifted back into Shades.

"It's mine now! Mine, mine, mine, mine!"

"You're just a shadow and you'll always be!"

"…MINE MINE MINE MINE…"

"Leave!"

"No!" And so it continued. They watched as Antonio struggled to reclaim his body as the sun rose higher. If he lost, Lukas knew that there would be a hard battle ahead of them but if he won… Lukas swallowed nervously. Antonio had to win.

"Get him" Lukas looked up at Emil that was staring intensively at the fight. He had clenched his fists tightly and Lukas realised that he was angry. Really angry, he almost seemed to be fuming. Lukas reached out a hand to calm him but pulled it back quickly as the heat almost burnt him.

"Emil" Emil didn't notice. "Emil!"

"What?" He only glanced at his brother.

"Are you okay? You're really hot" Lukas watched as Emil blinked a few times, probably because he hadn't realised until now how warm he really was.

"I-I guess" Lukas frowned as Emil didn't seem too bothered by it and realised what was going on. "It" had awoken.

"Enough!" It was clearly Shade that shouted since it had an addition of flames shooting in all directions. On unsteady legs he got back up and stared at them. The flames spread more and more. "I'll finish this here and now" The nations quickly got back up on their feet. All of Shade was covered in flames and his eyes were filled of it. He reached out his hand and the fire built up even more until it covered him, consumed him, and just kept growing bigger. Lukas swallowed, he knew that not even he could stop that. It grew even bigger and from within they could hear shouting and laughing. Something zoomed past and it was already too late for Lukas too stop him as Emil entered the ball of fire.

"Emil!" Lukas cried out and tried to follow but the heat pushed him back. Emil was already gone in the flames.

Inside the fire, Emil struggled. He saw the fire spread over his body but couldn't feel it. It didn't leave any burns either. He tried to move forward but the force of the fire pushed him around. He could barely breathe but he kept pushing on.

"Leave!"

"No!" Emil followed the voices and ended up in a small clearing. In the middle stood Shade, struggling to keep it together. The flames surrounded them from all sides and there was nowhere to go. Emil considered what he had done. He had acted purely on impulse when he rushed in, somehow convinced that he would be fine. But he didn't know what he would do now, what could he do?

"Emil" The voice startled him but as he looked up, he could see that it was Antonio. "You have to leave!" He took a step backwards and closed his eyes as they once again shifted.

"Well, well. Look who we have here" Shade smiled widely while his eyes darted from place to place and finally locked onto Emil. "Someone who wants to die"

"Emil! Go!" Antonio was back and was begging him to leave.

"No, I won't go." Emil took a few steps forward just as Shade returned.

"Let me finish you off, let me destroy you, let me destroy…"

"Emil!"

"No!" Emil stood face to face with the panting Antonio that looked down on him pleadingly. But only for a moment. His eyes started burning and the smile was back in place.

"Hello there" Shade looked down at him "Are you ready?"

"Yes" Emil pulled back his hand and felt the energy flow through his body "Goodbye" With all his might he threw a punch straight into Shades stomach. Shock showed in Shades eyes as he stumbled backwards and fell. The very moment he hit the ground, the fire got smaller. Soon, the other nations came into view and before he knew it Lukas had grabbed him.

"Are you all right? What were you thinking?" Emil was confused, he had never seen Lukas panic like this.

"I'm fine, alright?" Lukas hugged him tightly.

"I thought I lost you again" Again? Emil understood. Shade must have told them he was dead, that's why they were so happy to see him earlier. Tino walked up and stared at Emil, very confused and a bit impressed. He then turned his attention to the ground.

"What do we do?" Just as Tino asked the question, the nation groaned and opened his eyes slowly. Lukas automatically pushed Emil behind his back while Mathias walked over. He crouched down and put a hand to his chest to keep him down.

"Antonio, is it you?" They waited. The nation blinked. Then he smiled widely.

"Yes, yes it is."


	33. Chapter 33: Wake up and Pass out

**Chapter 33**

Wake up and Pass out

"How can we be sure?" Mathias was still holding him down "Shade has tricked us before" He looked over at the ground where the shadow was. It seemed to be very angry but that didn't help them figuring anything out right now. Both Shade and Antonio would be mad in that position.

"Just touch it." The nations looked at Emil that glanced over Lukas shoulder "It has to be either me, Lukas or Arthur though"

"I'll do it" Arthur walked over. There was a lot of things going through his mind right now, he didn't understand what actually had happened. It had all happened so fast too. Lukas fight, Emils return, Antonios supposed return, the fire and now this. He crouched down next to the shadow and, with a last glance at Mathias that nodded, placed his hand onto it.

"ALL OF YOU WILL BE DESTROYED, EVERYTHING WILL BURN. JUST WAIT. EVEN IF IT TAKES HUNDREDS OF YEARS I'LL COME BACK. YOU CAN'T STOP ME. ANTONIO CAN'T. I'LL RIP YOUR WORLD INTO PIECE-" Arthur stumbled backwards to get away from the words. There was so much hate hidden within them, so much rage.

"Well?" Mathias looked up at him, waiting for confirmation.

"Yes" Arthur let out a relieved sigh "Antonio is back" The tension lifted as the realisation hit. It was over, they had won. Mathias leaned back and Antonio sat up slowly. He looked at his hands, he shuddered in the cold air and as he reached down on the ground he could feel the dirt underneath his fingers. Pain spread through his body from the hits that Shade had received but it didn't bother him. He could feel again.

"I'm back" He looked up at Emil "And you're alive" Antonio was beyond relieved but it changed when he suddenly remembered and turned around. "Lovino…"

"He'll be fine" Lukas walked over and sat own on the ground next to Antonio "He'll be back when the time limit wears off"

"How long?" Antonio couldn't look away from Lovino.

"About… 20 hours?" Lukas looked thoughtful for a moment "Yes, that seems accurate"

"That's too long" He tried to stand up but couldn't. "You really didn't hold back"

"You're in no position to complain, you said we could go all out" Francis walked over and helped him get over to Lovino. Meanwhile, Mathias turned to Lukas.

"So you mean that your original plan was to outlast him for 20 hours?"

"Well it was 24 hours to begin with, though it gets shorter the more energy you use." Lukas shrugged and Mathias shook his head. Emil sat down next to Mathias.

"It's been a long day today, hasn't it?" They stared at him, his calmness slightly creeping them out.

"That reminds me" Mathias turned and grabbed Emil before he shook him violently "ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"Mathias, wha-"

"Running into a ball of fire! You could've died!" Mathias stopped shaking him and settled on just staring at him.

"I had a feeling it would be fine!" Emil pouted back at him and Mathias let go while trying to calm his breathing.

"A feeling… You had a feeling? So you ran into…" The emotional and physical fatigue, the relief from realising Emil was okay and the realisation that it was all finally over caught up with him.

"Mathias!" Emil saw how he tipped over and passed out on the ground. "What happened?"

"Leave him, he'll be fine" Tino sat down next to Emil and poked his head. "Are you okay there?" Emil reached up and felt the bandage. The pain had almost disappeared completely and the heat he had been feeling before was fading. He shuddered in the cold air.

"Yes, I'm fine" Lukas suddenly poked him from the other side.

"Here take this" He held out a shirt "It's a bit dirty but it'll keep you warm"

"Where did you- DON'T STEAL PEOPLES CLOTHES" Emil pointed at Mathias that was now laying shirtless on the ground.

"We need to tend to his wounds anyway. Put it on" Lukas stare told him not to argue so Emil put on the shirt. All the other nations were now sitting on the ground, either talking or being lost in their own thoughts. Arthur was having Yao tell him what his fairies were saying, apparently they had some information about Shades kind. Alfred seemed to be feeling pretty down since Emil stole the spotlight while Gilbert tried to explain the upsides of being a mermaid to the rest. Only Antonio and Feliciano were sitting next to Lovino, both obviously worried.

"Can't you do anything?" Emil looked over at Lukas that nodded slowly.

"Technically yes" He looked thoughtful for a moment "I can always try" It was a bit hard but he managed to get up and walk over to the small group. He sat down next to Antonio. "Do you want to help him?" Antonio looked up, a bit surprised.

"Yes, I want to" He bit his lip. "Is it possible?"

"Yes but, it'll be hard and only you can do it" Lukas saw how Antonio nodded nervously. "Then watch and listen carefully"

"Anything" Antonio stared at Lukas with a focus that was almost scary. Lukas reached out and pulled Berwald to his lap.

"First of all, you need to make a connection. The easiest way is with a kiss but it can be anywhere on the body." Lukas took Berwalds hand and held it in the air to show him. "You have to try and reach him, feel his whole being. Do you understand?"

"I think so" The other groups had stopped their conversations and was now all focused on Lukas and Antonio.

"Good" Lukas nodded approvingly "When the connection is made, you'll feel the energy flow back to Lovino. It's easier giving back since it wants to go back. It was Lovinos to begin with" He paused for a moment to let Antonio process his words before he continued. "It will disconnect when all the energy has been sent back, you do understand your fatigue will increase drastically, right?"

"Yes I know" He seemed focused "So the only problem is making the connection?" Lukas nodded and looked down at Berwald.

"I can show you once but I don't know how much help it'll be" Antonio nodded at him and waited patiently. "First, make the connection" Lukas pressed his lips to Berwalds hand and the blue light shone around them. The thread linked their wrists together again and after a minute of glowing, Lukas lowered Berwalds hand while the light faded.

"Lukas..?" Berwald slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Lukas "Did we win?"

"Yes" Lukas was breathing quite heavily "And Antonio is back" Berwald sat up and looked at Antonio that seemed a bit scared that he would be blamed.

"Oh, welcome back" Berwald looked around at the people staring at them, a bit uncomfortable, but he barely noticed as he laid his eyes on Emil. He quickly got up on unsteady legs and ran over as fast as he could and tackled him so they both fell over. "EMIL!"

"Berwald, calm down I-"

"I thought you were gone forever!" While the two nations reunited, Lukas turned towards Antonio again.

"Do you think you can do it?" Antonio swallowed nervously.

"I can try" He took a deep breath and looked down at Lovino. He couldn't make sense of his emotions. He was scared, relieved, happy, angry and worried at the same time. But most of all, he blamed himself for all this. Antonio took a deep breath and lifted Lovinos hand. After a moment of hesitation, he closed his eyes and pressed his lips to the palm. He didn't know what he was searching for but he tried to feel something, something to connect with. But nothing happened. After a minute had passed, he dropped the hand and looked desperately at Lukas. "What do I do wrong?"

"I don't know" Lukas didn't look up at him. He only continued to stare straight ahead. "I can't really see you" Antonio realised. With the extra energy gone, Lukas had lost his eyesight again. He felt how something twisted in his stomach as he looked at Lukas. He seemed exhausted and it was obvious that he was in pain. Antonio gritted his teeth as the same thought kept repeating over and over again in his head. My fault, my fault, my fault, my…

"It's not your fault you know" Arthur sat down in front of him and raised an eyebrow "You're too tense, you blame yourself. That's why it's not working"

"But it is my fault" He looked down at the ground "If I could've-" He was interrupted by a hard slap at the back of his head.

"Stop this, you did what you could" His eyes were a bit teary as he looked up at Francis standing behind him "No one blames you"

"But I…" Antonio looked around at them one by one. It was true, no one actually seemed mad. They seemed more worried and anxious. Then, he suddenly got another slap at the back of his head causing him to almost fall onto Lovino. "What the-"

"Pull yourself together man!" Gilbert lowered his fin again. "If you really got to blame someone, blame that crazy shadow of yours!" He pouted a bit to show his annoyance.

"Just breathe and focus. For him, okay?" Arthur nodded towards Lovino that was frowning even in his sleep.

"Yeah… Just… Breathe…" Lukas seemed to have reached his limit long ago and was having a hard time staying awake. Arthur shook his head.

"Go and rest, you'll do no good here right now"

"A bit harsh maybe?" Still, Lukas complied and crawled over to Mathias only to pass out next to him. Emil seemed a bit confused to why they were falling unconscious one by one but no one really had the time to explain. They were all too focused on Antonio.

"Okay, breathe" Antonio took a deep breath and shook his head. He tried to convince himself that the others were right, it wasn't his fault. But he couldn't. He took another breath and looked down at Lovino. Even if it was his fault, he had to forget about it for now. He could blame himself later. With a third breath he managed to push the guilt he felt back somewhere deep within him. Once again he took up Lovinos hand. This time he didn't hesitate before he closed his eyes, took it to his lips and kissed it. At first there was nothing but Antonio wouldn't give up. He couldn't. He focused harder and searched for something, anything. But there was still nothing. He opened his eyes.

Then he found it.

It was as if it had been searching for him too. Antonio felt Lovino connect to him and how the energy started flowing between them. Something red floated in the air around them and he could see that it looked like small clouds. Their wrists linked with something that looked like red silk and flowed smoothly between them. His eyes grew wide in surprise but only for a moment because he suddenly felt how he almost collapsed. The clouds disappeared and he broke away from the kiss. His whole body was hurting, it was hard to breathe and his vision was blurry. Still, he could see how Lovinos eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Lovino…" Antonio barely managed to whisper and he saw how Lovino turned his head towards him. Then he didn't see much more because Lovino punched him in the face, causing him to fall backwards. The combined fatigue from all the running, fighting and now falling that his body had been through that day made him pass out before he even hit the ground.

"Lovino, wait! It's Antonio! Antonio's back!" Feliciano waved around with his hands, relieved that Lovino was back but concerned about Antonio.

"I know that damn well!" Lovino stood up on shaky legs while seeming pretty pissed off. "I saw it before I passed out, I knew you guys would win."

"Then why did you-"

"Because" He pointed down at Antonio "It took a long fucking time!" The group fell quiet for a moment. Then the first chuckle was heard. It spread throughout the group and soon they were all, except Lovino, laughing. It was very much needed and they could feel days worth of tension drift away.

"That's why you're angry?" Gilbert wiped away a few tears. "That's very weird"

"Well, at least I don't smell of fish"

"Shut up" It took them all a few minutes to calm down after that but they managed. When the laughter died out, Elizabeta spoke up.

"Isn't it time for these guys to get treated?" She pointed at the tree unconscious nations laying on the ground.

"I guess so, there's not much we can do here though." Francis frowned a bit and looked over at Arthur "Unless you can do some kind of abracadabra thing and fix them?"

"It's not some abracadabra thing!" Arthur crossed his arms and glared at Francis "I can't do much now, used up too much energy protecting all of you."

"Oh right, how rude of me" Kiku stepped forward "Thank you very much" The other hummed in an agreeing tone.

"I-It was nothing, R-Really!" Arthur stuttered and blushed a bit "I just did what I… was supposed… to…" Then he fell over on the ground. Francis sighed deeply and looked around.

"Anyone else going to pass out?" They shook their heads but then Emil slowly raised his hand. They looked at him and noticed that he his legs were shaking and his face was completely pale.

"If you don't mind" Francis nodded and waved his hand in a "go ahead" movement. Tino caught him before he could hit the ground and laid him down next to his brother. It took them a while but soon enough they had loaded the five unconscious nations onto backs and into the shopping cart. Feliciano got the pleasure of carrying Gilbert while Berwald rode on Tinos back.

"Let's get back and sort this mess out" Tino sighed, he was tired as well.

"Sure" Berwald sighed, though he wasn't very tired. They walked along the road in a slow and quiet pace everyone lost in their own thoughts. Some thought about how lucky they were to not have been noticed by any citizens, some thought about food, one was a cat and had ran off into the forest when no one was looking and one was still a bit pissed about not being the hero. They had one thing in common though, the relief of it all being over. Now they only had one thing left to do.

Break this spell.

* * *

 **A/N** Hey! Sorry about the lateness of this chapter and the lack of A/Ns in these past few chapters. Thank you for all the support this far, every review is highly appreciated! This story is slowly closing in to it's end but it's still a few chapters to go. I hope you'll stay with me! Thank you for reading!


	34. Chapter 34: Have a Lollipop

**Chapter 34**

Have a Lollipop

"You might think that you've won but that's a lie. I'll be waiting. I'll be back, you can't escap-" Antonio did his best to ignore Shade but it was hard since he never stopped talking. The others seemed to have forgotten the fact that Antonio could still hear Shade and Antonio would not be the one to remind them. They worried about him enough already.

"Well then, we've told our side of the story. Who wants to go next?" He looked at Arthur that stood at the end of the table. They were now all back in the meeting hall after being treated and getting a few hours of rest. With only a few exceptions there was a lot of yawning around the table. Antonio stood up, still very sore after the events that unfolded during the night.

"I'll go" Everyone turned towards Antonio. The looks on their faces varied from person to person. It was everything from worry to curiosity to anger. He tried to not notice, they had to hear his story first. He waited until Arthur nodded and sat down.

"Sure, go ahead. Don't leave anything out, you've played an important part in this so hopefully we can get some answers" Arthur pointed at him with his pen before he got ready to take down notes.

"Okay then" Antonio cleared his throat "When I woke up after being knocked out from the spell I was still…Me" He looked down at the table. "I thought I saw something outside so I went to investigate but then I realised it was nothing so I relaxed. That's when he pushed me out"

"Yeah that was pretty fun actually" Antonio gritted his teeth. Ignore him. Ignore him.

"I realised later that he only could take my place because I let my guard down" The stares got more intense "That's why I'm keeping it up all the time now"

"Still, you couldn't have known" Emil yawned and continued "There's not much you could've done" Antonio knew this already but it was hard for him to believe it.

"Then Lovino came over and Shade knocked him out. Then he… it was to convince him that I was dangerous" Antonio took a deep breath. There was some parts they didn't have to know. "After Lovino left we travelled to Lukas house."

"Wait a second, what did he do while I was knocked out?"

"His plan was to take care of Arthur and Lukas since they were two of the few that could stop him."

"Hey! Are you ignoring me? What did he-"

"After the Alfred incident he dragged me over here-"

"Hey!" Lovino stood up and grabbed him by the collar. "What. Did. He. Do?" Antonio tried to look anywhere except on Lovino but it didn't work for long. In the end he just sighed and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. Lovino turned red within seconds and let go of him before he sat down, too embarrassed to say anything else.

"Now I got curious"

"Yeah! What did he do?"

"Anyway" Antonio shut them up "We got back here and he pretended to be me. By the way, you all should practise your sign language. It's horrible"

"Maybe it's you that wasn't clear enough!"

"Anyway!" He cleared his throat "We went to bed and while we slept Lovi had a vision. He figured it out. But Shade caught him before he could tell you all"

"I did punch him though" Lovino seemed rather pissed about the whole getting captured thing but, considering that it was Lovino, it was pretty normal. Antonio smiled and patted his head.

"Yes you did, I was so proud"

"Stop that!"

"Then after a while, Emil showed up" Antonio stopped smiling. He didn't know how he would be able to continue without breaking apart. "He'd figured out that my shadow was evil but he also though that I still had control over my body"

"So that's why you didn't wake us up? You could've died!"

"But I didn't, right? Now keep quiet and listen." Lukas frowned but listened to his brother and turned his attention towards Antonio again.

"He did figure it out eventually and that's when Shade caught him too. When he found out that people were looking for Emil, he climbed out the window and left." It got a bit harder to breathe as they were closing in to "that" part. "He left Lovino in some abandoned building and then took Emil to the shore. We went out on a boat and…and…" Antonio was shaking where he stood and his eyes filled up with tears.

"Just sit down will you. We can take it from here." Lovino pulled him down so he got back into his chair. Antonio covered his face with his hands and nodded.

"Then…Then I guess I should continue" Emil stood up, a bit nervous when everyone turned their attention towards him. "We went out on a boat and drove far away from shore. Then he held me over the edge and I think I burned him or something" Emil noticed something that looked like a knowing glance from Arthur towards Lukas but he wasn't sure "I pretty much pissed him off and he finally threw me of the edge into the water. He'd tied an anchor to my feet so I just kept sinking deeper and deep-" He was interrupted by the sound of glass breaking.

"I'm sorry"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, go on" Mathias, that clearly wasn't fine, carefully picked up the shards. He had tightened his grip around his glass of water too much as Emil retold his story and when he came to the drowning part… It had become too much.

"I'm not really sure what happened but the ropes suddenly disappeared but after that I couldn't move, it was as if I was paralysed" This time, the glance was unmistakeable. Arthur and Lukas clearly knew something he didn't. "Then I lost consciousness and woke up on the beach with Gilbert panicking next to me."

"I wasn't panicking! I was just… You know… I…"

"We swam through the water back to shore and then ran to warn you guys" Emil sat down but received some strange looks from the others "What? There's not much more to say!"

"I guess so" Mathias stood up and shook his head "So, now we know everyone's stories right?" An agreeing hum was heard throughout the room. "Then, we should take a break and when we return everyone can ask their questions" A small discussion continued concerning the exact time they should come back and in the end they decided to wait until after dinner. As the nations all stood up one after the other Lukas grabbed onto Emil.

"Are you sure that you're fine?"

"I am" Emil didn't lie, he actually felt fine. Though, he did feel like being alone right now to process everything that had happened but he doubted that Lukas would leave his side even for a moment. Well, it never hurts to try. "I'll go for a walk outside"

"Stay safe" Emil stood frozen in place for a while as Lukas turned around and searched his way back to Mathias. He had expected a certain "no" or at least a "I'll go with you". He would've expected that a normal day as well but especially now after all that happened. He shook his head. There was no use thinking about that now, he got the peace he needed. With a last glance over his shoulder, he left the room.

.

"Look at you, feeling sorry for yourself. I actually pity you, everyone must be hating you by now." Antonio could almost hear the smirk. "Who am I kidding? I love it!"

"I don't really care what you think. I won, you lost." Antonio laid back on the bed. He had a hard time moving around for too long so he'd gone back to his room to rest. Shade sighed deeply.

"You might not care about what I say but you can't ignore it fore-"

"Looooseeeer" Antonio felt how Shade got irritated and couldn't help but smile. He could feel the connection between them and he could somehow sense where the opening that they could pass through was. It was hard to explain it but it almost seemed like a doorway that Antonio could open and close as he wished. He also knew that he could open it by mistake if he dropped his guard so his main focus was always to keep it up. History would not repeat itself.

"Whatever. I'll get through one day." They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"That's weird" Lovino had left the hotel to try to find some place where the visions didn't bother him too much. Apparently it got worse when others were close by but it was okay when he was alone. He'd said that he wouldn't be back until after dinner and besides, Lovino wouldn't actually knock on the door. He'd just rush in. Antonio walked over and slowly opened. "Hello?"

"Can I come in?" Arthur didn't wait and walked past Antonio before he could even answer.

"Sure?" He couldn't help but wonder why Arthur was visiting. They had already told each other what happened at the table earlier and any questions they had would be discussed later. Was there something he couldn't tell the others?

"I have some things that I need to discuss with you" Arthur paced back and forth in the small room and Antonio noticed that he was wondering about something. He got quite curious himself and looked over at Arthur.

"Well then, start discussing" He sat back down on the bad and waited. Arthur paced back and forth a few more times before he stopped in front of Antonio.

"First of all, let me see your hand" Arthur reached out his own and waited. A bit confused, Antonio lifted his hand and placed it in Arthurs. Arthur then took of the newly wrapped bandage and flinched when he saw the hand. Even though he would be fine eventually it did not look so fine right now. The hand was riddled with blisters and it was clear that it must be hurting. "It's healing pretty slowly."

"I know, magic didn't work either" That caught Arthur attention and he took an even closer look. It was healing even slower than it normally did for a nation and if magic wouldn't heal it either there was clearly something weird about this wound.

"Was it really Emil that did this?" Arthur seemed a bit confused but curious at the same time so Antonio answered honestly.

"Yes, I saw it myself. Right before…" He fell quiet without finishing. He didn't want to remember.

"Interesting" It didn't seem like Arthur had noticed Antonios sudden loss of words and was more interested in Antonios hand. This made Antonio himself even more curious.

"What does this mean? You seem to know something" Arthur rewrapped his hand again and backed away to look at him.

"It's nothing you need to worry about"

"But-"

"Now there's another thing I want to talk to you about, well actually not to you"

"What do you-" Antonio realised and his eyes grew wide. "I don't know if that is such a good idea"

"I have some questions that needs answering. You want answers too right?" Arthur took Antonios silence as agreeance and walked around the bed to stand in front of the wall. He reached out his hand until he could feel the wallpaper underneath his fingers.

"Well, I'm honoured. The almighty Arthur pleases me with his presence" The voice was filled with sarcasm but Arthur ignored it. Instead he pressed his hand harder against the wallpaper and smiled a little.

"Hello again Shade"

.

The sun was shining outside but the wind was still blowing strong. Emil shuddered a bit and closed his jacket before he started walking away from the hotel. He didn't really have a goal in mind but he had to get away for a bit, to think. What had actually happened during the night? According to Shade he, Emil, was a mage. Emil chuckled a bit, that was just silly. There had to be some other explanation, there was no way he could use magic. But how could he explain the burn and the ropes? Not to mention the fact that he ran into a ball of fire. Emil shook his head, none of this made sense but it seemed like Lukas and Arthur knew something. He kicked a stone on the ground and looked around, somehow he'd ended up in a park. There was families having picnics, old couples out walking and a lot of children playing everywhere. All of them unknowing of the things that had unfolded the precious night. They were lucky.

"Oh my, how cute!" Emil looked up and noticed a small crowd that had gathered next to the path Emil was following. They were all of different ages and it seemed like they were looking at the same thing.

"Little boy, where are your parents? It's dangerous to be alone out here"

"Want to ride the swings with me?"

"Here have a lollipop!" They were all talking at the same time and as Emil came closer he could hear another voice, all too familiar.

"Uhm… You see, I-I have to go now so…"

"We can't just let you leave! It's too dangerous for you out there alone!" Emil watched for a while before he decided to save Berwald from the crowd.

"There you are!" It didn't seem like the people heard him, they were all too focused on Berwald. Emil put on a fake worried look as he pushed himself through. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Emil" Berwalds relief was unmistakable but the crowd didn't seem as calm.

"Who are you?" They looked at Emil, obviously suspecting him of being some sort of predator despite not looking much like one.

"I'm his… older brother" Emil felt how they looked at him as he made his way over to Berwald. An old lady poked him to get his attention.

"How can we know it's true?"

"It is" Berwald spoke up and their attention was turned towards him. "He'll look after me" They started to leave one after another, everyone obviously disappointed to not have any reason to stay any longer. Berwald relaxed and looked at Emil. "Thank you"

"No problem… Little brother" Emil had a hard time to hold back his laughter but he managed "Let's leave, they are probably still watching us." They started walking next to each other and had soon enough left the park. Emil had returned to his train of thought from earlier and Berwald couldn't help but notice his worry.

"What's bothering you?"

"Nothing, really" Emil looked down and smiled slightly before he returned to staring in front of him while frowning.

"Really?"

"It's just" Emil stopped and sat down on a bench "there's a lot I don't understand"

"I see" Berwald sat down next to him and offered him one of the many lollipops he'd gotten from old couples. "What is it?"

"Well, a lot of weird things have been happening lately. All this magic and the spells and Shade saying I can do it too and what if I can? I don't know if I want that" Emil said no to the lollipop offer and leaned back a bit. He wasn't sure why he was telling Berwald this, there wasn't anything he could do about it anyway. It took quite a while for Berwald to answer.

"You know, I've spent a lot of time with Lukas" Emil looked at him. Berwald never spoke much and when he did, he always thought about what to say first. "There was a time when he went through this too."

"What do you mean?"

"He hasn't always been able to use magic but one day weird things suddenly started happening" Berwald looked like he was lost in the memories. "A lot of things was set on fire, things broke without anyone touching it and I think Mathias hair changed colour a few times." He smirked a bit at the last part before he looked up at Emil "He was pretty scared"

"Lukas? Scared?" Emil smiled a little "That seems pretty unlikely"

"But he was. There is only one time I've seen him more scared" Berwald nodded "And that was tonight when he realised that you were in danger."

"I see" Emil didn't know what else to say. He had to take a moment to process this. Berwald didn't give him long though.

"Let head back" He jumped of the bench and started walking. He stopped pretty soon though and turned around. "You should talk to Lukas, he knows what to do"

"As always" Emil stood up and followed him along the road.


	35. Chapter 35: Debt

**Chapter 35**

Debt

"Did you have some questions for me?"

"Yes I do" Arthur had to fight to keep his hand on the wall. Touching Shade gave him a very uneasy feeling and instinctively he wanted to back away.

"Sure thing. I'll answer your questions if you answer mine" Arthur felt a shiver run up his spine as Shade chuckled. There was something hidden behind his words that Arthur couldn't figure out. It didn't matter either, he needed answers.

"Fine, but I go first" Arthur pressed harder against the wall. "How is it that you can move?"

"Our kind can move if we're attached to a mage" Shade tilted his head curiously "But you already knew this, didn't you?"

"Yes but I was wondering, why isn't my shadow moving?" Arthur looked at his own shadow on the wall that was just as still as ever, only moving when Arthur himself did.

"Obviously, it's still in its sleeping state" Shade was amused and Arthur didn't like it. It seemed like he was giving vague answers on purpose.

"Explain"

"No, no. I think it's my turn to ask a question now" Even though he couldn't see it, Arthur could feel how Shade smiled at him. "Coffee or Tea?"

"What?"

"Coffee or Tea, what do you prefer? That's my question." Shade waited while Arthur frowned. He didn't understand why Shade would ask that of all things. But if these were the kind of questions he'd ask during their little game, Arthur was sure he could play along.

"Tea, obviously" Arthur took a deep breath and stared intensively at the shadow. "Now, explain"

"Sure thing!" His cheery tone didn't fit well with what Arthur knew he was capable of. "Shadows can be in different states. I was in a locked state, I could do nothing but watch and follow this idiots movements. Your shadow on the other hand is in a sleeping state… Do you enjoy rain?"

"I don't like this, I don't like not knowing what he's up to"

"Antonio, shush" Arthur looked at Antonio that frowned but decided to ignore him and turned back towards the wall. "I don't have much choice but to enjoy it, what's this sleeping state you speak of?"

"I see, so you do like rain" Shade chuckled "Your shadow is asleep. It can't see, hear or move and it never have been able to. It would only be able to become like me if someone woke it up"

"How do we tell them apart?" Arthur had to know. If they could find out which shadows were dangerous then they could prevent something like this from ever happening again.

"You can't. But if you've used magic for a long time and nothing have happened you're probably safe" Arthur got suspicious. Shade was being just a bit too cooperative. "Now, I have one question left" Shade tilted his head.

"Fine, what is it?"

"To get Alfred back, how far would you go?" Arthur almost let go of the wall. The other questions had been so simple and now he asked this all of a sudden.

"Why does it matter?"

"I see, that far huh?" Shade chuckled "You really are a desperate fool"

"I don't need to answer you anymore. I've found out what I needed" Arthur was just about to back away when something pulled him back and locked his hand to the wall. "What the-"

"I've also found out what I needed" Arthur saw in the corner of his eye how Antonio turned around and started to move to separate them but it was too late. Arthur felt how something spread through his body and he fell backward onto the floor.

.

"Where is he?"

"Right over here, I'll show you" They were back in the hotel lobby and Mathias led Lukas through the room towards Gilbert that appeared to be telling his brother and Feliciano a story.

"…and then they just threw me off the cliff! But do not worry because I managed to survive by – Oh, it's you guys!" Gilbert looked up at them and grinned. They had managed to find him a wheelchair so he could move around. It had also been discussed if it would be better to just bring him back to the sea since they didn't know if he could be on land forever but he had refused. "Do you want something?"

"Yes we do" Lukas managed to sit down on one of the couches with some help from Mathias and turned towards Gilbert. "Thank you"

"Thank you? For what?" Gilbert looked like he had no idea what they were talking about so Lukas sighed and looked down at his hands.

"Emil. Without you he would've…" He couldn't finish the sentence. Ludwig and Feliciano snuck away to give them some privacy but Lukas barely noticed.

"Ah, that thing. It was nothing really, anyone would have done the same in that situation" Gilbert actually seemed a bit embarrassed.

"But this time it was you. We're all owe you, Berwald and Tino agreed too, so you can ask anything you want from us" Mathias looked down on the ground "Even though what you did was worth so much more"

"I really can't-"

"Even if you say no, there'll probably come a day that you need help" Lukas stood up and turned away from Gilbert "When that day comes, we'll be by your side" Mathias stood up as well and they started to walk away but Gilbert called out to them.

"Fine but you can't give all the credit to me" They turned towards him again. "I might have dragged him out of the water but he was the one that then rode on my back through ice cold water before running for 30 minutes while pushing a mermaid in a shopping cart" Gilbert leaned back and sighed "Not to mention the 'running into a ball of fire' stunt he pulled afterwards" He smiled "Emil is much stronger than you might think"

"Yes, we know" Lukas and Mathias exited the room and left Gilbert alone, though it didn't last long. Ludwig and Feliciano came back inside, it seemed like they had been standing outside listening all the time.

"I think they needed to hear that" Ludwig sat down on the couch where Lukas had just been sitting.

"Of course! I always know what to say" Gilbert smirked at him "And about that offer…"

"You're not actually considering it, are you?" Ludwig tried to give him a stern look which was not very effective with Felicianos face. Gilbert looked thoughtful for a moment and glanced at Ludwig.

"Two words. Free beer"

"Okay"

"Okay? Really?" Gilbert smirked again "Then I think we should discuss the fact that you are inside Felis body. I find it very humouring"

"Says the one that is half-fish"

"Mermaid! Not half-fish! Or is it merman maybe because I'm a guy? Doesn't really matter since…" And so their conversation continued.

.

"Arthur! Arthur, are you okay?" Antonio kneeled next to Arthur and shook him carefully but he didn't wake up. He had a pulse and was breathing so Antonio let go and turned towards his shadow "What did you do?"

"I still have some power even in this state, all I need is some personal info and I can create a weak connection and knock people out" Shade sighed deeply "Though I can't do much more than that"

"Then why did you? It won't gain you anything!"

"You'll see" Shades giggle sent shivers up Antonios spine. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and it slowly creaked open. Keys to Antonios room had been handed out to some of the others just in case something bad would happen.

"Antonio? You in here? Have you seen Arth-" Francis froze in the doorway and Antonio could see Alfred peeking behind him. The stare he got made him realise what they must be seeing.

"No, wait, this is not what it looks like!" Antonio stood up and held up his hands. They had just walked in to see him kneeling next to Arthur's unconscious body and after all that had happened it could only look like one thing.

"Back away from him"

"But listen I-"

"Now!" Antonio obliged and backed away while he could hear Shade chuckling in the background. Francis slowly walked over to Arthur while staring suspiciously at Antonio. "Matthew, go get the others" It wasn't until now that Antonio noticed the small cat on the floor. Matthew quickly turned around and ran away through the corridor. Alfred cracked his knuckles and looked at Antonio with a ready-for-round-2 face.

"Listen to me! I'm still Antonio, it was him who did it!" Antonio pointed towards the wall where Shade furiously shook his head while waving at them desperately. Still, he managed to put a small piece of doubt in Francis.

"We can't be sure, let's wait for the others so Lukas can check" It didn't take long until footsteps were heard trough the corridor and soon enough a group of nations entered the room.

"What's going on? Kiku said that Matthew said that Arthur was hurt!" Feliciano had a hard time standing still and Ludwig stood right next to him. Gilbert rolled in right behind them while Kiku stood a few steps back with Ivan on his head.

"He's saying that he's Antonio but we have been tricked before"

"I'll just check, where's the shadow?" Lukas suddenly entered the room followed by Tino. Mathias seemed to have disappeared somewhere else. After leading Lukas through the room while carefully keeping an eye on Antonio, Francis took a step back again. Lukas reached out a hand and had to take a step forward to reach the wall.

"Who are you?" Lukas got a panicked response within seconds.

"Lukas! It's me Antonio! That person on the bed isn't me, he's lying!" Lukas turned towards the bed and could see the shape of a person that suddenly turned towards them.

"No! He's the one lying, I'm Antonio!" Antonio was furious. So this was his plan all along, to turn them against him. Lukas let go of the wall and turned towards the group.

"They are both claiming to be Antonio but both are sounding equally trustworthy"

"Then what do we do?" The nations fell silent. Antonio stayed still, he could feel that any sudden movements right now would lead to pain. That was at least until a small voice was heard.

"Maybe I can help you?" They all looked towards the small light that seemed to be spreading from Kikus head. No one recognised the voice except for Ivan that seemed beyond unhappy.

"So you're back now?"

"Yes I am! Did you miss me? I know you- Hey! What did you do to my dress?" As Ivan lifted and flew over to the table they could suddenly see a small wand in his hand.

"As if I was going to wear that forever!"

"Ivan what is going on?" Tino was the first one to snap out of it. They were all very confused about this sparkling stick.

"What? Didn't Ivansi here tell you about me" The wand suddenly flew out of Ivans hand. "I am Ivantis wand. I can fullfill one wish everyday as long as he sticks to the rules!"

"Really? Ivan, why didn't you tell us about this?"

"It's annoying, I don't want it." Ivan flew up in the air next to the wand and tried to catch it but it quickly avoided him and flew over to Tino.

"He's so mean! He tried to snap me in half earlier and I was just trying to help. He's scaring me!" The wand was sobbing as it hid in Tinos hair and Ivan received some very angry stares.

"That is not what happened! It was being really rude and-"

"Enough!" Ludwig sighed deeply and looked towards Tino "Did you say that you could help us?" The wand suddenly darted out towards him and spun in the air while creating sparkles everywhere.

"Yes! If Ivan just wave me around and wish for it, I can tell you wish one is the real Antonio"

"Really?" Antonio didn't realise that he'd taken a step forward so he was pretty surprised when he was pushed back.

"Stay where you are" Antonio held up his hands to show his surrender and backed away. They turned their attention towards the wand again.

"But, I've already made a wish today. It was past midnight when I did it!" Ivan raised an eyebrow "Are you breaking your own rules?"

"No, no, Ivanki. I'm simply letting you use tomorrows wish today!"

"You keep talking about these rules, what are they exactly?" Tino tilted his head curiously.

"How about I show you?" Sparkles shot out of the flying wand and formed words in the air for them all to read.

"Whishing rules:  
1\. Only one whish per day. (Unless the wand is bored)  
2\. You can not wish for death of another living creature.  
3\. Your wish can not break other types of magic.  
4\. The wand can refuse to grant your whish.  
5\. Be polite.  
6\. If your name is Ivan you must afterwards wear a dress to be allowed to make a wish."

"You changed it! You changed the rules" Ivan pointed angringly at the list while the wand let out an audible gasp.

"Ivanskipo! I would never do such a thing!"

"Why don't you come over here so I can-"

"Ivan" Francis looked over at him with a very tired look on his face "Can you please just do it?" Ivan looked around the room. He quickly realised that he didn't have much choice right now but to do it, at least if he wanted to get rid of the wand again.

"Fine! Come over here then, I won't snap you in half this time"

"Yay! Ivansikki will make a wish!" It flew straight into Ivans hand and he turned towards Antonio and pointed at him with the wand. He sighed deeply before he waved around a bit with it.

"I wish I knew which one is the real Antonio" Sparkles flew out of the end and floated in the air. It separated into two clouds and placed themselves above Antonio and the shadow. They waited for a moment as the sparkles shifted in the air until it formed words.

"Thank god" Everyone let out a relieved sigh as Antonios name showed up above the nation on the bed while the other cloud formed Shades.

"I agree" Antonio sat down again on the bed "This is such a mess" The tension slowly slipped away and most of the nations found somewhere to sit down.

"Ow, what happened?" Arthur suddenly sat up on the floor and looked around "What are you all doing here?"

"Nice timing, you really gave us a scare there" Francis yawned "I'll tell you about it later, I don't really feel like it now"

"Well then!" They looked up towards Ivan where the wand once again was floating on his own. Francis shushed Arthur before he could ask what the hell that thing was. "I think it's time for your payment"

"Let's just get this over with, I'll change back as fast as I can though" Ivan frowned and crossed his arms.

"You're so boring! But fine!" There was a small "poff" heard and Ivan was surrounded by glitter for a moment. When it faded they all had to hold back a chuckle. Ivan was now dressed in a crystal-blue dress and behind him flowed a long cape decorated with large snowflakes.

"This is even worse than the last one"

"I'm off then! Going to sleep for a while. Maybe a week, maybe an hour who knows!" Then the wand disappeared without a trace.

"Well, Ivan. Do you want to explain?" Ludwig raised an eyebrow. Ivan just sighed and shrugged.

"No, not really. I don't understand either anyway"

"Very well. How about you two?" He looked over at Antonio and Arthur that were very busy looking anywhere else than on Ludwig. "What happened?"

"You see we were just-"

"It was my fault" Arthur interrupted and looked down onto the ground. "I wanted to ask Shade some questions and he tricked me" Then he told them the whole story.


	36. Chapter 36: The Mom Of The Group

**A/N:** I am terribly sorry about the long delay! Let's just say that 2016 has been a bit rough on me this far, hopefully I'm back on track now! I'll probably return to my once a week schedule. As always, thank you for reading, reviewing and sticking with me!

* * *

 **Chapter 36**

The Mom Of The Group

"Now then, have we all agreed to not touching that shadow anymore?" They were all gathered around the table again. Emil and Berwald had returned shortly after everything had calmed down and not far behind them came Lovino. Mathias, who had been asleep up until then, had joined them as well and now Ludwig was trying to make this meeting work out well.

"I think that's a very good idea" Antonio seemed tired, more tired than any of them. An agreeing hum was heard from around the table.

"Good, then let's get this meeting started. We're all very tired so let's get this over with quickly. You'll all get to ask your questions but only ask the most important ones." They nodded and kept on staring at him. Ludwig looked at them one by one while trying to look stern before he continued. "Well then, who wants to go first" Lovino raised his hand which caused Ludwig to sigh deeply "Anyone else? No? Then, go ahead Lovino"

"Very well" He stood up and dropped two books onto the table "Just like with the first book, which turned out to be the main reason Shade was revealed, I also felt the need to bring these two. Why?" The room fell silent and Lovino frowned as he saw their surprised stares. "What?"

"We didn't think that you would have a question that made sense" Feliciano tilted his head and looked at his brother "It's almost a bit scary"

"What did you say?"

"What kind of books are they?" Arthur was both curious about the books and wanted to prevent any fights so the meeting could move on.

"It's one about math and one about plants. How could these ever be useful?"

"Let me see that one" Lovino slid the plant book across the table towards Arthur that quickly skimmed through the pages. "This could indeed be useful. Can I keep this?"

"Sure but, why?"

"It might be good to have it when we dispel your, well, spells" Arthur carefully closed the book. It was very old and the pages were thin and fragile. Some of the plants that the book spoke of could be used both to boost ones magic energy as well as to break spells. "Not to mention it'll help against the pain…"

"What?"

"What?" Arthur hadn't meant to say that last thing out loud and quickly tried to shift their attention "What about that other book? Any ideas?"

"No, not really"

"It doesn't seem necessary"

"I don't know either"

"I don't know anything about this kind of stuff" Somehow, it turned into an argument on who actually knew the least but after a while Tino managed, with the help of Berwald, to get them to listen.

"I guess that's something only the future can tell us" They all got quiet and thought about it for a moment before they sat down and nodded. Everyone except Lovino at least.

"Wait so that's it? We will just accept that explanation?"

"Yes, now sit down" Ludwig tried to give him a stern look and even though it failed, Lovino still sat down muttering about injustice and the fact that they knew nothing about the future. "Let's move on"

"I was wondering about that energy drain thing that you did." Francis motioned towards Lukas and Antonio "If it was as powerful as you said it was, why didn't Shade just drain all of our energy? He would have won easily." Their heads automatically turned towards Antonio that flinched and put his hands up.

"Don't look at me! How would I know?"

"Well…"

"I'm not him and you all know that!"

"I'll tell you" Lukas sighed and waited for them to quiet down. As he stood up he felt like something was wrong but he couldn't really say what. This made him want to end this quickly so he could go back to their room and rest. "It's much more complex than you might think. First of all, you can't perform it with just anyone." Lukas could feel their eyes on him. "It has to be one with someone you share a bond with, someone that you've spent a lot of time with"

"Now hold up just a second" Lukas turned towards Lovinos voice. "What kind of bond do I share with that… that thing?" Lukas assumed that he was pointing towards the shadow.

"Whether you like it or not, you've spent a lot of time with him and by just being near someone for a long time creates a bond." He heard mumbling around the table as they took in what he said "A bond doesn't have to be positive, despise or hate can create a connection close to the level of friendship" The mumbling grew louder. "A lot of you in here probably share bonds without you wanting it" It felt like the mumbling could explode into a heated argument about not wanting anything to do with each other any minute now.

"Everyone calm down! Just let him finish"

"Right" Lukas nodded gratefully towards Mathias as everyone got quiet. "You all saw that the spell changed from when each of us did it right?" He continued as they agreed with him. "The shape and the colour varies because it shows the kind of bond the two participants share but also might say something about their personalities."

"So the black fog from when Shade and Lovino did it means that the relationship they share isn't very good, the blue light from when Lukas and Berwald did it radiated friendship and trust. When Antonio and Lovino did it, the red clouds showed desperation and passion" Arthur looked around the table. Most of the others seemed utterly confused though Lovino had turned bright red while Antonio seemed rather happy.

"Exactly" Lukas swayed a bit where he stood, he had to sit down soon "But to answer your question, Shade simply didn't share a close enough bond with all of us" He felt someone grab his arm before he even realised that he'd almost fallen over.

"Are you okay?" Mathias whispered it, at least Lukas didn't hear any more than a whisper. More voices started sounding around him but they faded at the same time. His vision darkened and he could no longer feel anything, it was as if he was floating. There was a sudden pop and he could finally feel something again, a solid surface underneath his feet and a cold wind blowing in his face.

And he could see.

But what he saw was not the room he had just been inside, what he saw was something completely different.

"Lukas, hurry up!" He felt his body move on his own and it didn't take him long to figure out that this was another memory, though it felt much more vivid than last time. Mathias, a much younger Mathias, waved at him from above a small hill. Lukas walked towards him and heard himself speak.

"You have way too much energy" His comment didn't seem to bother Mathias one bit, it usually didn't. "Can you see him?" Mathias shaded his eyes against the sun and tried to find whoever they were looking for somewhere within the forest.

"No, not really. He's surprisingly fast" Lukas saw how he frowned a bit before he begun making his way down the snowy hill. "It's dark soon, he should have been back by now"

"Ber can take care of himself. Let's just go back, it's cold outside" The sun was slowly setting and the temperature was dropping. Snowflakes had slowly started falling from the sky and the wind was picking up speed. "Or else we might just get lost"

"Just… a few more minutes okay?" He looked back pleadingly, knowing that Lukas couldn't say no to that look.

"Fine. But don't come crying to me when we get eaten by wolves or something" Lukas flinched a little, he didn't remember being this harsh when they were younger. Well, maybe he still was.

"Yes! Then let's go and-" Mathias suddenly crouched down and grabbed the axe on his back. "Did you hear that?"

"No, I-" Lukas heard a loud crack and felt his own body tense as he prepared for an attack. "What was that?"

"I don't know, let's check it out!"

"Mathias wait!" But he had already started making his way down the hill and Lukas didn't have much of a choice but to follow. Quietly, they made their way towards the forest without making a sound. At least, that was until Lukas tripped. "Look out!"

"What do you-" He didn't get to finish the sentence before Lukas crashed into him and they then tumbled together down the hill. Lukas felt the snow, the hard ground and the heat from Mathias body. Then they stopped, or at least Lukas stopped. He saw Mathias crash into a pile of snow as well as managing to get stuck in it.

"You 'kay?" Lukas looked up and realised why he wasn't stuck right next to Mathias right now.

"Ber, you're here" Berwald carefully put him down on the ground and looked at him with a worried expression. "Yes I'm fine" Lukas brushed off some of the snow and pointed towards the stuck nation. "Should we help him?"

"Do we h've t'?"

"Come on" Together they managed to pull Mathias out of the snow which made him smile gratefully.

"Thanks guys! Ber! You're here too! Where have you been?"

"Yes, where have you been?" Lukas noticed how Berwald hesitated and that made him very curious.

"Well… y' see…" He threw glances over his shoulder while he tried to give them an explanation until he just gave up and motioned for them to follow. They only walked a few steps into the forest before Berwald stopped and looked around. "C'me out"

"A-Are you sure?" A soft voice was heard but Lukas couldn't make out from where.

"Mm"

"Oh Okay" From behind a tree stepped a small boy out. He seemed to be around their age and was fidgeting with his hands. Then he suddenly got a determined look in his eyes and stretched out his hand towards Lukas. "Nice to meet you I am a country just like you and I would like it if we could be friends if you wouldn't mind" Lukas realised that he was nervous, scared even. Maybe he hadn't met anyone like them, like himself, before.

"I'm Lukas" Lukas felt himself move and grab onto the small boys hand "I hope Ber didn't scare you, he can look quite intimidating"

"Lukas, don't be too hard on him. He can't help that his face gives people nightmar- Ow ow I'm sorry!" While Berwald quieted Mathias down, Lukas turned towards the boy again.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" He seemed worried about the other two fighting but Lukas just shook his head.

"This is normal, don't worry too much" Lukas let go of the hand and pointed towards Mathias. "That guys name is Mathias and he's an idiot, though he means well"

"I see, Mathias you say" The boy turned towards Lukas again and smiled brightly. "My name is Tino!"

The ground crumbled and Lukas fell as the memory faded. For a moment, everything turned dark again and the air turned warmer. Then he landed on something that felt like sand. A bright blue sea suddenly spread out in front of him and voices was heard from somewhere to his right. As he looked over, he saw Mathias and a young Emil playing in the sand. Berwald was laying in the sand half asleep not far away and Tino…

"Lukas!" Tino suddenly popped up next to him and Lukas felt himself flinch "Sorry, did I scare you?"

"A bit"

"Anyway, I was just going to say that you should move into the shadow before you get a sunburn" Tino gave him a stern look as Lukas was about to protest. "I'll drag you if I have to"

"Fine" Lukas remembered. Tino was someone who always tried his best to make sure everyone was alright and didn't get hurt. He made sure they always were dressed properly so they wouldn't get cold and took care of them if they got sick. As Lukas saw Tino make his way towards Berwald, the memory faded again. The next one was only a few seconds long but that one had the most impact on Lukas, it was a memory he wasn't prepared for at all.

Tino was standing in the doorway with tears streaming down his face. Lukas felt Emil shaking as he held a protecting hand on him. Mathias was laying on the floor with a furious look on his face and blood streaming from his nose.

"I'm going with Berwald" This was it. The moment everything fell apart and the fighting started for real. The day Berwald and Tino left the house.

"Just go. But remember, you will be back one day. Both of you" Tino took a frightened step backwards as Mathias stood up, looked over at Lukas and whispered before he ran out the door.

"I'm sorry"

The ground disappeared from underneath his feet once again. A light suddenly shone above him and he heard voices, worried voices, from somewhere far away.

"Lukas!"

"Come on, wake up"

"What's wrong with him?"

"Arthur, what do we do?"

"I-I don't k-"

"Wait! He's waking up" Lukas slowly opened his eyes only to be met with multiple worried pairs. Mathias was holding him so he wouldn't fall down on the floor. "Lukas, are you okay?"

"Tino…" Lukas could only whisper, but he had to say it. He had realised something very important.

"I'm right here Lukas, are you okay?" Tino was suddenly right next to him and took his hand.

"Tino" Lukas looked into his tear filled eyes.

"Yes?"

"You used to be a guy"


	37. Chapter 37: In Your Dreams

**Chapter 37**

In Your Dreams

"So you remember me now?"

"Yes, some other things too…"

"That's great! I still don't understand what happened though" Tino reached out a hand and, together with Mathias, helped Lukas stand up again.

"I saw… No, I relived some memories. It's coming back to me now, a lot of it" Lukas held a hand to his head. Images were still flashing in the back of his mind but at least, he was back to reality again. "Why now though?"

"It seems like Vladimir broke another circle" They all turned towards Arthur that seemed surprisingly calm. He had disappeared when Lukas suddenly started glowing and collapsed and came back as he woke up. Arthur put the phone back in his pocket and smirked knowingly. "This has happened before right?"

"Yeah, that's right" Mathias suddenly remembered "Last night, we forgot to tell you all about it since…" His voice faded and he looked over at Emil.

"It seems like new memories are released as a circle is broken"

"Great" Lukas sat down on his chair again "Then this will happen again" He looked around the table at their pitying faces. Then he looked again.

"Lukas, what's wrong?" Tino almost fell over as Lukas suddenly stood up and stared at the others.

"I can see" It was only a whisper.

"What?"

"I can see!" Lukas looked at his hands. He could see small cuts and bruises from the fighting earlier but it was quickly healing up. Mathias gave off a relieved sigh.

"That's great, I was getting quite worried" He smiled brightly and turned towards Berwald. "Isn't that right Ber?"

"Yeah. It's good" Berwald looked up at Lukas and nodded but flinched as he noticed his expression.

"Oh my god" Lukas reached down and picked Berwald up "I don't remember him being this small" Lukas wanted to kick himself. How could he have let himself miss out on so much time seeing Berwald this small and cute?

"Now that you mention it…" Ludwig suddenly stood up "Hasn't he gotten smaller?" It got quiet and they all turned towards Berwald and stared at him. Ludwig was right. When they first had gotten there he had looked like a five-year-old but now he had to be at least a year younger.

"It's true" Mathias leaned in and took a closer look. "and since the clothes shrink too we didn't really notice"

"What does this mean?" Tino looked at Lukas and then over at Arthur. He was worried.

"I don't know" Arthur seemed thoughtful "But this is bad, for all of us"

"That's right" Lukas was still holding onto Berwald "If his spell is still getting stronger, our spells might get worse as well"

"Will Berwald… disappear?"

"Emil!"

"What? I'm just asking what you're all thinking!" Emil crossed his arms at his brother that stared at him.

"We don't know that either" Arthur tapped his fingers on the table "But I think we just got ourselves a time limit"

"We don't have enough time! It's been days and only two circles have been broken!" Tino waved his hands around and Lukas hugged Berwald a bit closer "There got to be something we can do"

"I'll call Vladimir and tell him to hurry-"

"That's not enough, I'm sure he's already going as fast as he can." Lukas was getting angry, why wouldn't he listen?

"Lu…kas…"

"Listen here Lukas, we can't do much but wait and hope"

"That won't help right now!"

"Lu…"

"Besides, why can't we just invite the rest of the nations here? We could finish it together" Lukas suddenly felt something pinch his arm and looked down where Berwald was turning blue. "I'm sorry" Lukas loosened his all too tight grip so Berwald could breathe again. He had tried to call out for Lukas but he'd been too busy fighting with Arthur to notice.

"I don't think that's a very good idea" Arthur looked down at the floor. "Besides, I wouldn't be able to do much as it is now and if the spell is getting worse, I'll probably be pretty useless in no time"

"Isn't that just a bigger reason to get them over here?" Lukas raised an eyebrow and waited for Arthur to answer but he just looked down at the table. Lukas sighed. "Look, I know this isn't easy for you but if you want to feel useful again, we better solve this as quickly as possible"

"I didn't say I felt-"

"No, but it's pretty obvious" Both of them ended up having a stare down until Berwald once again tapped Lukas arm so he would be able to breathe again. It created a distraction long enough to relieve the tension that had built up between the two nations. Arthur sat down and mumbled something they couldn't hear. "What?"

"I said fine! We'll call them over, though, I don't think there's all too many countries left. The biggest amount was in the outer circles after all"

"Then it's decided, Vladimir will come here with the rest of the remaining nations as fast as possible" Tired as usual of the fighting, Ludwig tried to get the meeting back on track. He heard a few agreeing voices and two annoyed growls from Arthur, that was still a bit against the idea, and Elizabeta, who had a hard time getting along with Vladimir.

"Are they going to live here too then?" She squinted at Ludwig with a frown on her face but got an answer from Mathias instead.

"Well, we do have the room for it so why not?" Mathias smiled at Elizabeta that seemed to have a lot of reasons to why not. Being too oblivious to notice, Mathias turned towards Ludwig and motioned for him to continue the meeting.

"Now that that's settled, does anyone have any more questions?" Hoping for a no, he sighed as he saw another hand raise into the air. "Yes, Francis?"

"I have a very important question" Francis stood up and made a dramatic pose "What will happen to me then?"

"What?"

"If the spells are getting worse, how will we be able to handle the grotesque creature I will become? How will we be able to handle the loss of such beauty that is me? How will we-"

"Francis please" Arthur rubbed his temples "You're giving me a headache"

"This is very important so why don't you stay quiet and let me finish"

"Important my ass. All of us were affected worse than you, no one really cares about how you look" Arthur flinched as Francis slammed a fist into the table with a suddenly serious expression.

"I care! Isn't that enough?" There was a sudden silence in the room before Francis sat down again "Just forget about it"

"No, I actually think he has a point" They all looked over at Tino that had a rather thoughtful expression "I mean, some of our spells can't really get any worse right?"

"Like me and Ludwig!" Feliciano suddenly spoke up "I don't really mind it though"

"Some of us have to be careful" Arthur glanced over at Berwald and Mathias "And some of us just have to wait it out"

"What about me? What happens if my spell changes or get worse?" Antonio was obviously worried. Arthur looked away.

"That's something I'd rather not think about" A silence fell over the room as they thought about what had just been said. They wondered if their spells would get worse or if they were safe. The only one that wasn't slightly panicking was Lovino. He knew his spell had gradually gotten worse and he knew it would continue to. But because he knew he also remained calm. After all, it's hard to be scared of something that you know will happen no matter what you do.

"As far as I can see, we'll be fine" They looked over at him as he yawned. He wasn't completely honest and he could only see faint random pieces of maybe a few days into the future. He frowned a bit as he tried to shut the images out but as usual, it didn't work. "This is annoying"

"A-Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, don't touch me you jerk" Antonio pulled his hand back and smiled a little. Lovino was still Lovino after all.

"Very well, any more questions?" As Ludwig once again asked and looked around the table he was relieved to see that no one raised their hand. "Then, I'm glad to declare this meeting as over" The sound of chairs scraping against the floor filled the room. They left one by one and, after some disputing, Gilbert ended up joining Ludwig, Kiku and Felicianos room. Lukas handed Berwald over to Tino and tried hard to not fall for his looks once again.

"See you guys tomorrow then!" Tino waved and walked through the corridor as Mathias, Lukas and Emil stopped outside their room. Mathias unlocked it and smiled at the others.

"Let's have a long nights sleep shall we?"

.

"Are you okay?"

"Mm"

"You sure? I mean the things they talked about back there was a bit…"

"It's fine" Berwald struggled to get up on the bed. He really had gotten smaller and there was no denying it. After ignoring Tinos stare, that was screaming that he wanted to help, he finally got up and sighed. "They'll figure it out"

"I see" Tino laid down on the other side of the bed and looked over at Berwald "You really trust them, don't you?" Since Berwald sometimes was a bit slow at answering it took Tino a while to realise that he had already fallen asleep. He smiled and tucked him in before laying down on the bed. Even though it seemed like Berwald had full faith in Lukas and the others Tino couldn't help but worry. He knew that he probably was one of the lucky ones whose spell wouldn't get any worse but the others might even be in danger.

"Don't worry" Tino flinched as he heard the soft voice. Berwald looked at him with drowsy eyes and yawned "It'll be okay" Then he was asleep again. Tino couldn't help but chuckle and close his eyes, now a bit more relaxed.

"Night then Ber"

.

How was this possible? How could he be back here? Antonio stared at the small harbor. Only minutes ago he'd laid down in bed with Lovino right next to him. He felt the smell of ocean and forest as well as something burning. As he looked behind him he could see the forest and a pillar of smoke were slowly rising over the treetops. The sky was red and something felt off, but he couldn't really say what it was.

"Enjoying the view?" Antonio stumbled and fell as a voice suddenly was heard next to him. A hand was reached out to help him up but Antonio didn't take it, instead, he crawled further away. He'd realised who the hand belonged to. It belonged to himself.

"How could this-"

"Oh? Not even a hello? A long time no see? Well, we did see each other just before you went to sleep but you've been ignoring me lately" Shade put his hand into his pocket and looked out over the ocean. "It's really lovely here isn't it?" With the shock turning into anger, Antonio stood back up.

"How is this possible? How can you be…" Antonio pointed at him "…like this?" Shade smiled and tilted his head before he turned and looked towards the smoke. He really looked exactly like Antonio in every way. Except for the eyes. His eyes were red and despite his calm exterior, it was obvious that he was angry. Instead of answering his question he only glanced back at Antonio and smiled wider.

"I wonder what is burning over there" The chuckle that followed made Antonio start running.

"No, no, no, no, no" Somewhere he could hear Shade moving through the forest and his increasingly louder laugh followed with him. The smell got stronger and he could see a light in front of him, moving dancing, almost mocking him. A few last steps led him into a clearing and the laughter stopped. In the middle, he could see a big bonfire burning. From behind, Shade suddenly laid his arms around Antonio and carefully stroked his chin before he whispered softly into his ear.

"Why don't you take a closer look?" But Antonio didn't want to. He didn't want to see because he knew. He knew already what it was. Still, he slowly took a step forward. Then another. Shade released his grip and hummed softly on an old lullaby. Antonio fell to his knees in front of the fire.

"No"

It was everyone. Everyone he'd ever cared for and everyone that he'd tried so hard to save from Shade only hours before. Stacked in a pile, all burning slowly, and on the very top he could see a very familiar face looking down on him.

"This is all your fault" Lovino closed his eyes and screamed out a heartbreaking cry as the fire reached him. Antonio tried to reach him, he tried to move but something stopped him.

"Everything was your fault Antonio, nothing will ever be the same. They will always be afraid of you and you will always be afraid of me" Antonio looked up at Shade that suddenly stood between him and the pile. He crouched down and smiled at him "But I can make it better, with my power you can get anything you want. Just say the word, just let me in"

"No" Shade looked a bit taken aback but quickly recovered and turned it into anger instead. He grabbed onto Antonios shirt and lifted him off the ground.

"Let me in!"

"No!" Antonio had realised "None of this is real" He could see that that he had hit the mark as Shade frowned.

"Let. Me. In." It was more demanding, more threatening than before. "Or I'll have you go through this over and over"

"Never" Shade threw him onto the ground and Antonio couldn't move at all.

"Don't you see? I can keep doing this night after night" Shade smiled again "And I can do so much worse"

Suddenly, it started raining.

The fire got smaller and the air got easier to breathe. Antonio saw how Shade took a few surprised steps backwards. "What the?" The rain grew heavier and within a few moments, it was pouring down as if it was from a waterfall. The last thing Antonio heard was an angry scream from somewhere within the water.

"Lovi-"

"Seriously you're so annoying!" Antonio found himself sitting up in the bed soaking wet with Lovino standing next to him with a bucket muttering. "Trying to sleep but you just got to have nightmares, trying to wake everyone up?" Still a bit confused and disoriented, Antonio watched as Lovino walked around the bed and threw the bucket into a corner before he got back under the blanket.

"What happened?" The dream suddenly rushed over him and he remembered. He looked over at the wall where Shade surprisingly enough kept quiet and only shrugged at him. Lovino turned stared at him angrily.

"I was just peacefully trying to sleep when I see that you would wake up screaming in just a few minutes, waking the entire hotel up. So I accidentally dropped a bucket of water on you"

"I see. Thank you" Antonio looked down at his hands. He thought that water was dripping from his hair into them before he realised that he was crying. He quickly wiped the tears away but they were soon replaced by new ones. It was just all too much. Suddenly, he felt an arm around his back and he felt himself get pulled closer to Lovino.

"Idiot" Surprised, Antonio looked up at Lovino that was now sitting in the bed awkwardly trying to comfort him. "Just this once okay?" That was all he needed. Bursting into tears and loud sobbing Antonio grabbed onto Lovino as if his life depended on it. He didn't know how long he cried like that, he only knew that he at some point fell asleep and woke up the next morning still holding his arms around the smaller nation.


	38. Chapter 38: Don't laugh

**A/N:** Since I'll be introducing quite a few more characters I thought I should tell you which names I use for them!

Romania = Vladimir  
Lithuania = Toris  
Poland = Feliks  
Switzerland = Basch  
Litchenstein = Erika  
Latvia = Raivis  
Estonia = Eduard  
Austria = Roderich  
Greece = Heracles  
Turkey = Sadık  
Sealand = Peter

Then, I hope you'll enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 38**

Don't laugh

The days that passed continued just the way that Lovino had predicted while they waited for Vladimir and the rest to get to them. Antonio still had nightmares but at some point, he managed to get used to them. Emil tried to work up the courage to talk to his brother but decided to wait until after he'd regained all of his memories. If it was to avoid the inevitable for as long as possible or for Lukas sake he didn't know and he refused to think about it as well. Mathias, Elizabeta and Tino teamed up which lead to Berwald waking up with a new outfit every day. Alfred and Matthew managed to come up with a soundless communication system which no one else understood and no one questioned. Yao made many friends amongst the mythical creatures and Ivan wore a new dress every day, it didn't matter if he made a wish or not. Everyone slowly adjusted to their new bodies and abilities as the days slowly ticked by. That is of course until they heard a knock on the door.

"Welcome everyone!" Mathias smiled as he looked at all the nations outside the door. Surprisingly enough, most of them seemed normal and there were less of them than he had expected. "Most of the others happen to be in the grand hall, come with me"

"Sounds good" Mathias had to look up to get a good look at Vladimir. They had tied a rope to his foot so he wouldn't fly off into the sky and he was currently floating in the air like a balloon. "There's 11 of us, are you sure we'll fit?"

"Of course" He waved them inside and started walking "We've got plenty of room! It's nice with some more people, it's been sort of quiet these past few-" He was interrupted just as he was about to open the door to the grand hall by a large crash followed by screaming and more things breaking.

"Very quiet indeed" Roderich raised an eyebrow at Mathias that just sighed and opened the doors.

"Say that again I dare you!"

"I would if you hadn't just told me to! No one gives me orders, especially not you!"

"I understand, you're too frightened"

"Am not"

"But you are"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Enough already!" At one end of the room Feliciano was holding back Francis and at the other end Alfred was holding back Arthur. In between them stood Ludwig trying to calm the situation down. "You're both acting childish!"

"What happened this time?" Mathias shook his head and looked over at Emil that stood right next to him at the entrance.

"Who knows? I think it was about whose hair is the blondest" Emil shrugged. They all knew that Francis and Arthur didn't really need that much of a reason to fight and living under the same roof for so long didn't exactly make it better. "Should I go and get the others? Since the others finally have arrived I mean"

"That would be good" Emil greeted the newly arrived nations before he left the room to find the rest that was spread all over the hotel.

"Eduard! I'm so glad to see you!" Tino cheered and rushed across the room which caught the attention of the two fighting.

"Tino! You're… You're actually a girl!"

"Hey, is that really how you greet a friend?" As the two nations reunited, Arthur and Francis quickly regained their composure and pretended that nothing just had happened. Arthur looked up at Vladimir and smirked.

"You sure took your time"

"Well, you weren't the only ones that got in trouble because of this" He shivered as he recalled something from the past few days. Then, his eyes suddenly grew big and he shot towards the roof and hit it hard. "Ow! Why did you let go?"

"Sorry" Herakles yawned and looked up at him "You were heavy"

"Maybe for the others but it shouldn't be a problem for you!" Vladimir glared down at him. Herakles looked thoughtful for a moment before he raised a hand towards the roof.

"Sorry"

"That doesn't really hel-"

"That's so sad" A voice was suddenly heard from somewhere in the back of the group "It must really have hurt" Basch suddenly emerged with tear filled eyes and looked up at Vladimir "I wish it would have been me…"

"There there Brother, everything is fine" Erika patted his back to comfort him as everyone else stared in disbelief.

"The spell makes him feel emotions and compassion much stronger than normally and it has just gotten worse"

"What about the rest?" Arthur suddenly realised "We didn't really talk about that on the phone"

"Tb pelria txfq clo qeb lqebop"

"We still don't know what you're saying so it's better if you're just quiet Sadık" Roderich turned towards Arthur "Anyway, we should wait for the rest before we show you. Then we don't have to repeat ourselves"

"Qexq'p teaq L pxfa!" Sadık pointed at himself with an annoyed expression. He was answered with a few pats on his back with one being very compassionate from Basch. Mathias decided to not question anything right now and just invited them to sit down on the couches and chairs placed around the room.

"Well then, let's see which ones we got here" Arthur looked at them one by one. Vladimir, Basch, Erika, Feliks, Toris, Eduard, stopped for a second at Raivis and glanced at Mathias before he continued, Roderich, Heracles and Sadık. Then he frowned and counted again. "Didn't you say that there would be 11 of you?" There was a moment of silence before the yelling started.

"I thought you were watching him!"

"No it wasn't me, it was Eduards turn!"

"Me? No one told me that!"

"F'k yixkfjd Eboxzibp"

"Everyone calm down!" Ludwig stood up and they got quiet "What are you talking about?"

"Well… We might have sort of… lost Peter… along the way"

"You lost who?" They all looked up as Emil once again entered followed by the remaining nations, excluding Lovino. "Peter? But he's right over there" Emil pointed towards the sofa where indeed Peter was sitting with a smug look on his face.

"Surprise! You really thought I was gone did you?"

"Peter! You can't keep on disappearing like that!" Roderich raised an eyebrow at Peter that frowned a bit and looked away.

"It's not like I can control it anyway" While they bickered for a moment Eduard glanced at the others.

"Invisibility"

"Oh"

"Well then" Arthur clapped his hands to get their attention "Tell us about your spells, we already know about Bach, Sadık and Peter but the rest of you" Everyone sat down in different places in the room, in couches, chairs and even on the floor. A small area was cleared in the middle so they would be able to show their new abilities.

"Then, how about I start?" Eduard stood up and walked into the middle of the clearing. He closed his eyes and got a focused expression on his face. There was a moment of silence and then…

" _Can you hear me?"_

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, it was as if he was inside of their heads.

"Telepathy?"

" _Yes_ " His mouth didn't move at all but it seemed like communicating like that was quite tiring. Eduard opened his eyes again "I can also do it with only one person at a time, that's much easier too" Tino suddenly chuckled and looked up at Eduard that must have said something funny.

"Interesting" Arthur watched as he sat back down. He hadn't actually seen anyone use telepathy before since it was quite uncommon that someone could actually pull it off. Toris got up from his spot and dragged an unconscious Feliks into the circle.

"As you all can see, this guy is asleep and he has been the entire time"

"All the time?" Tino seemed horrified. "How does he eat?"

"He doesn't but he hasn't seemed too affected by it either" Toris dragged him back and carefully placed him on a couch next to Sadık. Then, he walked back into the circle seemingly worried about the sleeping nation. "This is what I can do" He put his hands together and got a very focused expression.

"What the-" A surprised shout was heard from Antonio and as they looked over they could see Toris suddenly standing right behind him. But he was still standing in the middle of the clearing. Another copy popped up behind Alfred and another next to Yao. The original Toris separated his hands and with a few pops the copies disappeared one by one.

"That's so cool!" Feliciano's eyes were sparkling "How many can you make?"

"Really?" Toris felt very uncomfortable and at the same time tried his best to not laugh. He wasn't used to Ludwigs face making that expression. "My record is six right now"

"Whoa! That's amazing! Do you thin-"

"That's enough!" Ludwig was suddenly there to hold him back "And don't make weird faces while you're in my body"

"You're the one making weird faces! If you keep frowning like that you'll give me wrinkles!" While they continued, Toris took the chance to back away and sit down. He was relieved that his turn was over.

"Who's next?"

"I'll go" Herakles stood up, walked to the end of the couch and lifted it with everyone still on it. Then he put it down again and got back to his seat while looking like he'd just done the most natural thing in the world. He suddenly noticed the stares of everyone else and a few jaws dropped. "Is there something wrong?"

"You just- You know what? Never mind" Elizabeta shook her head "So, super strength?" Herakles simply nodded and then proceeded to look out a window. There was a moment of silence before a small voice suddenly made itself heard.

"So… should I do it now?" Raivis stood up but before anyone could say something the door suddenly slammed open.

"Stop!" Lovino panted as he walked in. He stumbled a bit, this many people made his head spin, and walked up to Mathias. "Come with me"

"What?" Without giving any answer, Lovino simply grabbed his wrist and dragged him out to the room next door.

"You guys proceed" He then slammed the door shut and left the remaining nations in complete confusion.

"What are you doing?" Even though they had learned to trust Lovino and his visions over these past few days Mathias still found all of this very weird. Lovino held his hands to his head and frowned before he relaxed and looked up at Mathias.

"Good, it went away"

"What did?" Lovino felt Mathias watch him as he sat down at the table. The visions were only getting worse. Now he didn't just see the most likely outcome but many possible outcomes depending on the actions they chose to take. Also, he could see further and further as the days went by. It also got worse and clearer if it was something big or dramatic that was about to happen. Like this right now.

"Listen, you and Matthew are getting along pretty well now right?"

"Yes we do, I'm not sure why but I don't feel like chasing him around any more" Everyone had been surprised when they had realised that Mathias and Matthew could sit next to each other and even touch each other without any reaction. "What does that have to do with this?"

"He's part rabbit"

"He's what?"

"Raivis is like you but with a rabbit. Got ears like one, a tail like one and can jump like one" Lovino looked very tired as Mathias sat down next to him. These past few days he had mostly been keeping to himself and the few times they'd seen him he had mostly complained about them causing trouble. They had all learned to leave him alone as much as possible and, most importantly, to not ask about the future. But, right now it was too hard to resist.

"So, I would have attacked him?" Mathias got a sinking feeling in his stomach as Lovino nodded.

"Yes, and the good ol' slap on the cheek doesn't work anymore" Lovino sighed and stood up again "You can go in now, Just try to keep your distance from him okay?"

"Trust me, I will" Mathias was just about to open the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder. As he looked back he could see Lovino about to fall over so he quickly turned and caught him. "What's wrong?"

"You guys" His eyes looked empty for a moment before life returned to them. He looked beyond annoyed as he pushed Mathias away again. "Never a quiet moment, this is why I stay away. Chaos every day…" He continued to mutter as he opened the door and pushed Mathias back into the room by himself. "You'll see what I was talking about in a few minutes.

"Wait! What do you mean?" But he was already gone. Mathias scratched his head and turned around towards the room only to see all the chairs and couches floating in the air with Erika standing in the clearing, arms stretched out. She carefully lowered them and the furniture was slowly put back onto the floor.

"You're back, what was that all about?" Emil looked at him curiously but Mathias just shrugged.

"Nothing really" He wasn't sure why he didn't just tell him the truth. Maybe he thought he could handle it by himself, maybe he was just too scared. Either way, he decided to turn the attention back to the others. "So she got telekinesis or what?"

"Yes" Emil was still rather suspicious but decided to let it pass. "She has been able to lift more and bigger things as time has passed" As Erika sat back down the nations turned their heads towards Roderich that refused to acknowledge their stares.

"Roderich…"

"No way, it's too embarrassing"

"We've all show ours, now you show yours"

"I don't see why it's necessary" Roderich crossed his arms and blushed slightly for some reason.

"Come on, it's not that bad"

"Fq hfja lc fp"

"Come on, show them!"

"Fine!" He stood up and walked into the clearing "But if anyone laughs I'll be angry" He stared at Gilbert for a few seconds to make sure he understood and then slowly, hesitantly, raised his hand towards the roof. A light started to spread from his hand and slowly over his entire body. A wind started blowing from nowhere and he was slowly lifted into the air.

"What is going on?" The surrounding nations had to back away and the glow made them unable to see anything but the contour of Roderich that had slowly started spinning. His chest suddenly heaved and he reached out both his hands. The light shone brighter on his chest and with a sudden burst of sparkles, they could see something form.

A musical note.

But it wasn't just any note, it seemed to be made of some sort of jewel. The light slowly pulled away from the note and started to reveal Roderich once again but his outfit seemed to change with it. Instead of his usual blue coat, a blue corset was formed. The light spread further and revealed puffy short sleeves with big bowties and a multilayered skirt that was too short to actually cover anything, everything in different shades of blue. Dark thigh highs with even more musical notes stretched over his legs and a pair of frilly gloves, each with a small stone in it, formed on his hands. A small tiara with a pattern of different instruments formed on his head. Meanwhile, notes were also flying through the air around him and as what looked like a conductor's stick formed in his hand, he made a final pose and landed on the ground in a burst of sparks. He then proceeded to sigh deeply as he waited. The silence that spread across the room was unbearable until Kiku finally broke it.

"Roderich is a magical girl?!"


	39. Chapter 39: The Importance of 5 Minutes

**Chapter 39**

The Importance of Five Minutes

He was sitting next to the window, looking out at the quiet city. The tears streaming down his cheeks glistened as the last rays of the setting sun hit his face. He sighed deeply for what he had just witnessed was something that he was sure would change his life forever. But he was not sad nor angry. Instead, he couldn't help but smile.

"Gilbert, are you okay?"

"Never again" Gilbert looked over at his brother from his spot by the window and smiled slightly. "Never again will I see something as funny as that, I can die a happy man"

"Oh shut it will you!" Roderich's face had turned completely red. Most of the other nations were still in different stages of recovery. Elizabeta put her phone away, now filled with pictures that she'd treasure for a long time. Kiku seemed to be rethinking his entire existence and Arthur just had a smug look on his face. Mostly, the others just tried to not laugh.

"Does this mean that magical girls are real?" Yao's eyes were twinkling.

"I think there are more important things to comme-"

"Yes, sort of" Vladimir cut Gilbert off "It's a form of magic developed long ago to give regular people temporary magic powers"

"I guess that makes sense but why the outfit?"

"The original creator was sort of a pervert"

"Oh"

"Wait a minute" Gilbert held up his hands, still with tears in his eyes "We could do this too?"

"With some help from one of us, yes" Arthur gestured towards Lukas and Vladimir and glanced towards Emil and Antonio.

"Can we move on please?" Roderich was pushing down the skirt to cover up as much as possible. "It'll wear off in a while anyway so let's just forget about it"

"This is something I'll never forget"

"Shut it Gil"

"I guess I'm last then?" Vladimir took off his hat and threw it towards the floor. "At first if I dropped something from up here it would fall down but now it comes back up" Just before it reached all the way down, the hat turned and flew towards the roof again. He caught it easily and but it back on his head before he continued. "As long as I touch it or has recently touched it, it will come back here. Doesn't work with people though"

"So things has gotten worse for you guys too?" Antonio sighed deeply. He was very tired, not only because of the nightmares but because he would from time to time randomly catch on fire. That wasn't the only weird thing happening. Things would change colour, start to float or suddenly break when he was close to them. This far nothing dangerous had happened but he did notice that Shade was growing impatient. Not to mention annoying.

"Yeah but it hasn't been too bad actually" Eduard gave him a pitying look "We've had it pretty easy compared to what you've been trough" Antonio understood.

"You know?" He looked over at Arthur, the only one that had had any contact with the other group "You told them?" Even though he had sort of expected it, it still made him mad. "Why would you do that?!"

"I just-" Arthur took a step back as Antonio stared at him "I thought it was better if they knew"

"Better! How would it be better?" Antonio stood and took a few steps forward. He knew what this would lead to, something he'd gotten used to and tired of during the past days. So much pity, so many side glances and so many of them avoiding him.

"They deserved to know"

"How much did you tell them?" They were now standing right in front of each other. The rest of the nations barely dared to breathe. Arthur held up both his hands and took a few steps backwards.

"Everything"

"Everything?!" Antonio quickly glanced across the room. It was true, they all looked at him with a mix of pity and curiosity. But there was something else there too, something that was worse than anything else. Fear.

"Nothing good would've come out of not telling them"

"Nothing good will come out of telling them either!"

"Calm down Antonio" Arthurs excessive calm was the last straw. Antonio closed the small distance that was left between them and grabbed him by the collar.

"Like hell I'm going to calm down!" Deep inside he could feel that he was wrong, that he was overreacting, but the anger he felt didn't go away. It just got bigger and he felt like he was getting warmer too. Antonio could feel it, this wasn't like him at all so why couldn't he stop?

"Do it, just let it out" His voice came from behind of course. It was almost hypnotic and Antonio felt his grip tighten. He could no longer hear anyone else but him. "Why would you have to stand for this? Go ahead, you're strong now. Show them that they need to respect you. Fear you" Shade chuckled.

"No" Antonio closed his eyes "This isn't me"

"But it is, it is now. As you are now, you can be whoever you want to be" Shade's voice pushed away all other noise. Antonio couldn't focus. Who was he actually? Who did he want to be? The power that had been building within him for the past few days started to grow bigger and it got even warmer. At that moment, he was more confused than angry.

"Stop" It was so warm.

"You can do whatever you want"

"What are you doing to me?"

"I'm not doing anything. This is all you, you're the one that has the power now. The power to rule"

"Stop!" Antonio opened his eyes, it hadn't been his own voice. Someone had managed to reach him, someone's voice had been heard through the silence. All sounds came back and Antonio could see clearly again. The nations were gathered in a circle around him, trying to reach him, but it seemed like some sort of force-field was keeping them out. He felt something on his leg and looked down only to see Berwald. Of course. He could catch anyone's attention. As his mind cleared, Antonio suddenly remembered. "Arthur"

"I'm fine, but I'd prefer if you'd let go" Antonio was apparently still holding on to Arthurs shirt which was slightly smoking. Other than that he seemed fine, a bit frightened but fine.

"Oh, right, sorry" As he let go, the force field disappeared and most of the nations fell forward. Antonio barely noticed their stares, he was too confused. Never had he ever lost control like that. "I'm…" He backed away "I'm sorry"

Then he was gone.

The door slammed behind him and left a worried group behind. It didn't matter, he had to go somewhere he could be alone and calm down. The stairs were many but eventually he made it up onto the roof, the cool air effectively clearing his thoughts. Antonio felt his breathing slow down as he sat down and leaned against the wall next to the door leading back inside. The door that suddenly opened.

"Are you alright?" Emil sat down next to him and looked at the slowly setting sun. "What happened in there?"

"I don't know" Antonio wasn't sure of anything anymore, he knew things had gotten worse but it wasn't until now that he knew exactly how bad it was. "The only thing I know is that I want everything to go back to the way it was before…"

"It will" Emil sighed deeply "This will be over in just a few days"

"No" Antonio shook his head "A lot have changed" If what Shade said that night is true it would mean that he would continue to follow Antonio around, the only difference being that he can't move or talk. But, Antonio would know. Then, no one could be sure if Shade would try to do something else. They couldn't know if he would be able to or not but the uncertainty would be enough to make the others doubt him. "I can no longer be trusted"

"Says who?" Emil understood what Antonio was thinking. "No one has doubted you"

"No one? Everyone in there is keeping an eye on me, afraid that I'll do something bad!"

"No, that's not it" He looked over at Antonio for a moment "We're not afraid that YOU will do anything. It's him we don't trust" Emil nodded towards the wall.

"What do you mean?"

"The only person that's afraid of you, doesn't trust you or blames you" Emil stood up again and stretched "Is you" Antonio stared at him and then looked down at the ground. That couldn't be true. "You might not believe me but if I were afraid of you, would I have followed you here?" It was quiet for a moment and before Emil opened the door and went back inside.

"Thanks" Emil heard his low voice just before he closed the door. He wasn't sure why he had ended up following Antonio but he knew that it had been the right thing. Now, he had to get back before the others realised that he was gone. He didn't want his brother to have a heart attack or something. Emil started to hurry down the stars again only to almost crash into someone already standing there.

"Hey" Lovino was leaning against the wall in the middle of the staircase with his eyes closed. Then he opened them, looked up at Emil and nodded at him "How're you doing?"

"Are you trying to look cool or something?"

"Shut up" The silence that followed was rather awkward. They hadn't really talked to each other since that night that no one wants to talk about, even though they probably had a lot to say to each other. That they needed to say.

"Well, I guess I should get goin-" Emil flinched as Lovino suddenly stood next to him and grabbed his arm. A redness spread across his cheeks as he quickly looked around to make sure no one was nearby and whispered so quietly that Emil was unsure if he had even heard correctly.

"Thank you. For… Everything" Then Lovino swiftly disappeared up the stairs and out on the roof. Emil was left alone, confused as of why he would thank him. The way down felt like it took much longer than the way up, maybe because there was a lot on his mind and he ended up finding himself standing still a couple of times. Eventually, he stood outside of the door that Antonio had slammed not too long ago. Emil was surprised, no yelling, fighting or things breaking could be heard from inside despite the group of nations currently gathered inside. He was relieved, they seemed to have managed to get along for a longer span of time than he had ever seen them do before. Maybe all that had happened might actually help them to get along in the future. Still hopeful, he opened the door.

But, he had been awfully naïve.

The room looked about as similar to the room he had left earlier as a puffin looked similar to a unicorn. The only thing still standing in its original spot, even though it was now emptied, was an old bookshelf. On top on said bookshelf was Basch, seemingly unconscious, and beneath it he could see an arm suspiciously similar to Yao's sticking out from underneath a pile of books. In a corner of the room he saw Kiku sitting upside down and next to him stood Alfred, now dressed in a maid uniform with matching cat-ears. Emil let his eyes wander over the room, as he tried to take in the rest of the scene, unsure of whether he wanted to or not.

A movement caught his eye and he looked upwards. In the big swaying chandelier he could see Gilbert sitting with claw marks all over his face as well as the source of said wounds, Matthew, sitting in his lap. By switching his attention a bit to the right he noticed Vladimir bleeding slightly from a cut close to his eyebrow. His arm was extended towards the floor and at the end of it Raivis was hanging, one of the few that seemed unharmed. Emil's gaze wanders down over Tino sitting on top of Sadık and Eduard crouching down with his hands over his head.

"I advise you to lower your weapon"

"How about you lower yours?" Roderich and Ivan seemed to have a stand-off in the middle of the room with their wands pointed towards each other. Erika sat on a half-broken chair looking very lost in thought while Toris was holding the still sleeping Feliks above his head.

"Oh, Emil. Welcome back" Lukas calm voice was heard next to the now broken window where Ludwig and Feliciano was holding onto Heracles so he wouldn't fall out. Lukas himself was hanging upside down in the curtains. "Where did you go?"

"Uhm… I just…" Emil had no idea what to say as he was still trying to process the imagery that he was now seeing. Mathias was laying on the floor mumbling something about whether or not it was necessary to eat and what a kidney could be sold for nowadays. Lastly, he saw Arthur frozen in a pose where he was dipping Francis as if they just were caught dancing or something. Peter's chuckle could be heard from somewhere in the room and Elizabeta and Berwald was nowhere to be seen. "What exactly happened here?"

"I-It's not what it looks like!" With a hard thud Arthur broke the deafening silence by dropping Francis onto the ground.

"It doesn't really look like anything" The messy room, the weirdly placed nations, the broken window. Emil couldn't make sense of anything except that a lot can happen in five minutes. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and asked once again. "What happened here? Where's Ber and Elizabeta? How did Gilbert end up in the chandelier? How-" Arthur stopped him by placing his hands on Emil's shoulders.

"A lot of these guys needs an explanation too. Just sit down and I'll tell you how it all started…"


End file.
